Chris Harby
BBC Sport England

Bristol Bears fought back to pip Exeter Chiefs 18-14 in a fiercely-fought West Country derby at Ashton Gate.

A Tom Jordan penalty and Viliame Mata's score put the Bears 8-0 up, but Henry Slade crossed and, after Jordan was shown a red card, Ben Hammersley's try put the Chiefs 14-8 up at the break.

Bears started the second half better and took back the lead moments after returning to full strength as Gabriel Oghre dotted down.

Exeter piled on the pressure, but saw a Harvey Skinner try overturned with 10 minutes left before Sam Worsley kicked a last-gasp penalty to seal Bristol's second Prem win of the season.

The sides shared 24 tries in their two meetings last season, and piled up 90 points the last time they met at Ashton Gate.

But an injury-ravaged Bristol showed a different side to their usual attacking flair to inflict a first Prem defeat of the season on Exeter. The win moves them up to fourth, as the Chiefs drop to fifth.

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Ben Marvell
BBC Sport

Northampton Saints claimed the early-season bragging rights, with a see-saw 32-26 victory over local rivals Leicester Tigers at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

Bolstered by the return of Finn Smith, Alex Mitchell and centurion Tommy Freeman from their post-British and Irish Lions break, Saints took an early lead through Smith, before being pegged back by Freddie Steward's effort.

Billy Searle's kicking kept the visitors in touch, but tries from Edoardo Todaro, Tom Pearson and a brace from Anthony Belleau put the game beyond the visitors.

Despite the win, Saints fans will be worried about the state of their backline, with both Freeman and George Hendy forced from the field with injuries.

With Billy Searle's early penalty obscured by the pre-match pyrotechnics, the first real action observed by the packed stands was the departure of referee Luke Pearce, who, suffering from a cramping calf, was replaced by Alex Thomas.

When the action resumed, it was the home team who took the initiative.

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Stuart Brennan
BBC Sport England

Tom Roebuck scored a hat-trick as nine-try Sale Sharks piled on the agony for the Prem's bottom club Newcastle Red Bulls with a crushing 57-5 victory at the CorpAcq Stadium.

The England man's opposite wing Arron Reed added two tries of his own and British and Irish Lions hero Luke Cowan-Dickie also grabbed a try on his return to action for his club.

With Rob du Preez and Ernst van Rhyn also scoring, the Sharks racked up the bonus-point in the first half as they raced to a 31-0 lead at the break.

Newcastle, who have now heavily lost their first two league games since the takeover by Red Bull in the summer, showed signs of a revival as the home side got sloppy and Elliott Obatoyinbo muscled his way over.

That was short-lived though as Nathan Jibulu scored for the third consecutive game and late scores from Reed and Roebuck made it nine Sale tries on the night and ensured the visitors' eight-year wait for a win at the home of the Sharks continued.

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