Coventry beat Tigers in Premiership Rugby Cup

Aaron Hinkley (centre) and his team-mates applaud the Coventry supporters at Welford Road

Championship leaders Coventry upset last year’s Premiership Rugby Cup runners-up Leicester Tigers as they stormed to a 33-19 Pool B triumph at Welford Road.

First-half tries from Aaron Hinkley, Tom Hitchcock, Jordon Poole and David Opoku put Coventry in command and they withstood Tigers pressure to secure a bonus-point victory, with Senitiki Nayalo adding a fifth score.

Northampton Saints almost suffered a similar fate at home to Championship opponents, with Nottingham’s Jack Dickinson scoring twice to put his side 21 points ahead before the Premiership champions staged a second-half comeback to scrape home 31-29.

Bath ran in 12 tries as they overwhelmed a depleted Bristol Bears side 78-19 to take charge of Pool D – with the last of those scored by first-team debutant Tyler Offiah, the 18-year-old son of former England rugby league star Martin.

In Pool E, back row Greg Filisau starred with a hat-trick of tries for Exeter Chiefs to see off Hartpury 54-3, while cup holders Gloucester twice trailed at home to Cornish Pirates before eventually securing a 36-28 victory.

Saracens hooker James Hadfield racked up six tries out of his side’s 15, with the Londoners falling just short of a century of points in their 99-27 hammering of London Scottish.

David Opoku's try gave Coventry a 21-point advantage over Leicester Tigers at half-time

Former Coventry centre Will Wand, who joined the Tigers in the summer, opened the scoring after five minutes at Welford Road – but that was as good as it got in the first half for Leicester, who found themselves trailing by 21 points.

Ryan Hutler set up tries for both Hinkley and Hitchcock, while skipper Poole crashed over from the maul and Opoku collected Tommy Mathews’ kick to score Coventry’s fourth of the afternoon.

Leicester fought back after the interval, with converted tries from Sol Kata and Archie van der Flier, but the powerful Nayalo broke through to gain some breathing space for Coventry, with Mathews adding his fourth conversion.

At Franklin’s Gardens, Dickinson’s first score of the game edged Nottingham into an early lead, but Northampton appeared to be building momentum as they laid siege to the visitors’ defence in the wake of Angus Scott-Young’s try.

However, the Archers held out and tries in quick succession for Jay Ecclesfield and Seb Ferreira, followed by another from Dickinson – making his 50th appearance for the club – put them 26-5 up at half-time.

It was a different story in the second period, with Saints debutant Toby Cousins launching the comeback before Archie McParland, Fyn Brown and Craig Wright also crossed the line.

Louie Hennessey was among a quartet of Bath players to score twice during their 78-19 rout of Bristol

Four Bath players – Will Parry, Louie Hennessey, Tom Carr-Smith and Ruaridh McConnochie – all got their names on the scoresheet twice during a one-sided derby encounter at the Rec.

Ethan Staddon and Kepu Tuipulotu also crossed the Bristol line early on and, despite Joe Jenkins’ score for the Bears - missing several senior players who had featured in Friday’s exhibition match against Australia - they turned around with a 31-7 deficit.

The gap quickly widened further as Bath racked up three more tries early in the second half and, although Will Capon and Aidan Boshoff responded, the home side finished with a flourish. Arthur Green dotted down before Offiah snapped up an interception to mark his debut with a routine try.

Saracens, having lost their opening Pool C game to Ealing Trailfinders, rebounded in style as they buried London Scottish under an avalanche of tries.

Hadfield registered a hat-trick inside half an hour – and doubled his personal tally in the second period, while Angus Hall went over twice in as many minutes as Sarries repeatedly tore through the Scottish defence.

Max Eke, Nathan Michelow, Brandon Jackson, Callum Braley, Izaiha Moore-Aiono, Jack Bracken and Reggie Hammick all added their names to the scoresheet, while Dan Nutton, Josh Bellamy, Will Talbot-Davies and Tom Wilstead replied for the visitors.

Exeter Chiefs' Greg Fisilau scored a hat-trick of tries against Hartpury

In Pool E, Championship side Hartpury grabbed an early lead at Sandy Park through Harry Bazalgette’s penalty, but Exeter soon asserted control as their power in the scrum enabled Fisilau to register his first two tries of the game.

Those scores by the 21-year-old back row sandwiched a Josh Hodge try and Dan Frost then broke clear to go over in the corner and hand the Chiefs a 26-3 advantage just before the interval.

Fisilau raced in between the posts to complete his hat-trick soon after the restart and Hodge – who also added seven conversions – scored again before Will Rigg and Harvey Skinner took the home side past the half-century mark.

Gloucester were pushed all the way by Cornish Pirates, who drew first blood at Kingsholm through Will Gibson’s converted try, only for Ollie Thorley to level and Max Knight’s score gave the Cherry and Whites a 12-7 half-time advantage.

The lead changed hands again after the turnaround, with Bruce Houston converting a Josh King try, but Gloucester responded with a good spell of pressure and Morgan Adderly-Jones bundled his way over from close range.

The two sides continued to exchange blows, with Morgan Nelson and Jack Reeves going over for Gloucester and Sol Moody’s double score earning the Pirates a bonus point before a late penalty by Rory Taylor – his fifth successful kick – settled the contest.