Gallagher Premiership: Bath beat Harlequins to go top as Exeter and Northampton also win

Gallagher Premiership round-up: Bath move above Sale after their 25-17 victory over Harlequins; Northampton enjoy narrow 31-29 victory away at Gloucester and Exeter Chiefs beat the Leicester Tigers 29-10 to extend their unbeaten home run

Joe Cokanasiga scored two tries for Bath in their victory over Harlequins

Bath top the Gallagher Premiership at Christmas after winning an absorbing battle with fellow title contenders Harlequins 25-17 at the Rec.

England wing Joe Cokanasiga scored twice, with his second try clinching an important bonus point late on. Other Bath tries went to lock Elliott Stooke and flanker Miles Reid, while the Londoners stayed in contention with tries from fly-half Marcus Smith, hooker Jack Walker and flanker James Chisholm.

Cokanasiga opened the scoring within two minutes but Russell’s conversion attempt was wide, only for Smith to dance through the home defence to score at the other end moments later before hooking his kick against a post.

Joe Cokanasiga got Bath off to a dream start after scoring an early try

The swirling wind and rain made handling difficult and Bath looked particularly vulnerable in defence, although the only score of the first half came when Russell put the hosts 8-5 ahead with a penalty.

Bath struck quickly after the restart with a catch-and-drive try by Stooke and followed up in the 48th minute with another spectacular effort by Cokanasiga, who steamrollered over Smith’s attempted tackle, with Russell’s conversion – the first of the game – increasing the lead to 20-5.

The visitors were not about to lie down and Smith’s penalty to the corner led to a catch-and-drive for Walker on his 50th appearance since joining from Bath.

Smith converted but Bath were gaining the upper hand and Russell’s inch-perfect tactical kicking set up a line-out in the corner. This time it was Reid who profited, leaving the home side with an 11-point lead and just six minutes to defend it.

Unfortunately for Quins, Chisholm’s last-minute score came too late. They might have claimed a losing bonus point but Smith again hooked his conversion against a post.

Exeter Chiefs 29-10 Leicester Tigers

Exeter maintained their superb home form as they defeated Leicester 29-10 in front of a record crowd at Sandy Park.

An attendance of exactly 15,000 witnessed the Chiefs end their 2023 home campaign in style with a bonus-point win as they stretched their unbeaten Sandy Park run in all competitions to 23 matches, spanning a period of 61 weeks.

It took the Tigers a long time to find their way into the game, despite many of their internationals returning to duty. They trailed 24-0 early in the second half and, when they finally did fight back, they had left themselves too big a mountain to climb.

Chiefs centre Henry Slade had another an excellent game, once more staking his claim for an England recall for the upcoming Six Nations.

Gloucester 29-31 Northampton Saints

Adam Hastings missed a 45-metre angled penalty with the last kick of the match as Gloucester suffered a 31-29 Gallagher Premiership defeat to Northampton before a crowd of over 15,000 at Kingsholm.

Hastings’ failure took Gloucester’s losing run in the league to seven games but it was rough justice on them for they had dominated a one-sided second half.

When the hosts trailed 24-7 after 35 minutes, another loss looked a near certainty but a yellow card for Saints centre Rory Hutchinson saw an instant change in momentum as Gloucester scored 22 unanswered points.

Freddie Clarke, Chris Harris, Matias Alemanno and Santiago Carreras scored their tries with Adam Hastings adding three conversions and a penalty.

Curtis Langdon scored two tries for Northampton, with Alex Mitchell, Alex Coles and Tom Litchfield also on the try-scoring sheet as Fin Smith added three conversions.