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Cipriani inspires Gloucester as Bahanan denies Bath, Vunipola scores on Saracens return
By Rob Lancaster
Bath were denied victory over local rivals Gloucester by a familiar face, while Billy Vunipola marked his return to action with a try for Saracens on a busy Saturday in the Premiership.
Tom Dunn scored two tries as Bath fought back from a 21-0 deficit to lead 31-24 going into the closing minutes, but former player Matt Banahan denied them with a score created by a sensational no-look pass from Danny Cipriani.
Billy Twelvetrees kicked the conversion to level the scores at the Rec, securing Gloucester – who recorded an impressive win over Northampton Saints in the opening round of fixtures – a dramatic 31-31 draw.
Bristol Bears looked to be on course for an upset when they led Saracens 18-13 at half-time, only for the reigning champions to hit back.
Liam Williams scored a 25-minute hat-trick off the bench as Sarries claimed a bonus-point triumph against the top-flight new boys, though the hosts were aided by the dismissal of Bristol's George Smith for a dangerous tackle early in the second half.
Replacement Vunipola also touched down on his comeback from a broken arm suffered on England's tour to South Africa in June, while international team-mate Owen Farrell booted four conversions and a pair of penalties.
Last year's beaten finalists Exeter Chiefs have started the campaign impressively, their second successive bonus-point triumph coming away at Wasps.
Sam Simmonds and Henry Slade grabbed two tries apiece as the Chiefs pulled away in the second half to win 42-31.
Wasps' cause was not helped by the loss of England forwards Brad Shields and Nathan Hughes to injury, the former seeing his debut cut short following a collision with Exeter scrum-half Stu Townsend.
Leicester Tigers began life under Geordan Murphy with a 49-33 victory over Newcastle Falcons, giving their former player a successful start as interim head coach after he replaced Matt O'Connor at the helm.
The Tigers led 40-19 by the interval, Jonny May collecting a brace of tries while George Ford also crossed once, helping the fly-half finish the contest with a personal haul of 29 points.
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Latest Comments
Reiko should be the dual winger guy as he should be used to playing either side given he's had to do both at 13 (pass and step left/right).
Maybe he has such a bad preference that that's why he's not a good center?
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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