Battered Bears stand strong in Gloucester

Gloucester 34 vs 48 Bristol Bears

The Bristol Bears came into this game without: Harry Randall, AJ MacGinty, Gabriel Ibitoye, Tom Jordan, Louis Rees-Zammit and Ellis Genge. Despite that, they were by far the better team on the day. There was some concern around Sam Worsley starting at fly-half. He is Bristol's 3rd-choice at his position and struggled so much last season in the absence of AJ MacGinty that Ross Byrne was brought in on loan in order to save their season. However, it looks like the 22-year-old has taken a big step forward after he ran this game perfectly and was responsible for many of Bristol's points in an emphatic victory. The Bears are still walking wounded but have managed to win 3 of their 4 games to sit 4th going into the final round of fixtures before the Autumn Internationals.

To be fair to Gloucester, they are also missing several stars from their team and the losses continued on Friday night. Ollie Thorley suffered what looked like a bad injury in a back line that was already struggling. The Gloucester director of rugby, George Skivington, summed things up well when he called the game "depressing". This has been a poor start to the season for them after a promising campaign in 2024/25. Their game against Exeter next week will be absolutely crucial if they are too remain in contention going forward. The one ray of light in that game was the continuing good form of Joseph at outside centre. Max Lewellyn returned for this game but had to slot in at 12 in the absence of Seb Atkinson and will probably have to stay there for as long as Joseph's form continues.

Red Bulls improving but still pointless

Newcastle Red Bulls 19 vs 36 Northampton Saints

This felt like a classic game of Friday night rugby in Newcastle. The Red Bulls, as they are now known, have had a mixed start to the season with only one constant - they lose every week. They are still out-matched and without a recognised director of rugby, but their 2 home games have been reasons for hope. The first half was tight and Newcastle pressed on again in the second half to trail by just 2 points until the 58th minute. After that moment, the visitors scored once again and pulled away from the hosts. Even a 50th minute red card to JJ van der Mescht wasn't enough to get Newcastle back into the game.

Northampton are still missing several key players but are top of the table having won 3 out of 4 games. Dowson's men are looking strong going into the international break and will soon be bolstered by the likes of George Furbank returning.

A landmark win for Leicester's new regime

Leicester Tigers 22 vs 20 Bath

This was the game of the weekend. Bath were looking imperious whilst Leicester had been inconsistent under a new coaching staff. This Bath team did look weaker than usual, but Ben Spencer was back in the team so Bath's expectations were as lofty as always. Most of the scoring was done fairly early on with all but 6 points scored by the 45th minute at which point Leicester narrowly led by 2 points. Leicester's discipline kept them in the game, only conceding 2 penalties compared to a double-digit total from Bath. Discipline became the ultimate deciding factor when Thomas du Toit was yellow-carded in the 81st minute for a high tackle. That gave Billy Searle the opportunity to win the game with a relatively straight-forward penalty kick. He promptly did so and gave his side a huge 22-20 victory.

This game was a disappointment for Bath but won't undo the positive progress that they have gained so far. They were always going to lose at some point this season and it happened fairly early. One point of concern for Bath this season is how much closer other teams look to becoming legitimate challengers. They'll be very wary of Northampton, having lost to them in the Prem final 2 years ago, and the Saints now have a better chance of having a fit enough squad to challenge in a way that they couldn't last season. That level of quality was proven by their run to the Champions Cup final when they finally had a fit squad. Saracens also look much better this season with Owen Farrell back in the mix.  As for Leicester, this was a huge win but it doesn't suddenly make them contenders. If they can continue to build, anything is possible but they are still dealing with several key losses.

A star is born

Saracens 65 vs 14 Sale Sharks

Noah Caluori - remember the name. The 19-year-old stands at 6ft 4 inches and jumps like an NBA player. He scored 5 tries for Saracens on Saturday, earned his team a penalty try and registered an assist. He has also been added to England's Autumn Nations training squad as a development player, which shows how highly he is rated by those within the game. He is a physical freak that clearly has all the tools to be one of the faces of the sport in the coming years. He'll need time to develop, but he is certainly one to watch going forward.

This was a huge bounce-back game for Saracens after an underwhelming loss in last weekend's London derby with Owen Farrell back to his usual best. Mark McCall will also have been buoyed by Saracens' ability to dominate Sale up front in such a brutal game. It now looks like last week was more of an aberration than a sign of things to come.

Sale, meanwhile, will be embarrassed by that performance, and rightly so. Caluori was obviously exceptional, but conceding 65 points as a team that prides itself on its defence is nothing short of embarrassing. Sale's defence coach, who looks set to join England in the same role, will have to go back to the drawing board before next week.

The definition of "Quinsy"

Exeter Chiefs 38 vs 0 Harlequins

Marcus Smith's tactical kicking performance against Saracens last week earned him plenty of plaudits. There had long been questions around his ability to manage a game, so him out-manoeuvring Owen Farrell in that facet of the game was a very big deal. It was a rainy day in Exeter which gave Marcus Smith the perfect opportunity to back up what he did last week. He failed miserably. Harlequins were out of kilter from the very first minute and Marcus Smith was central to that. The kicking battle was won easily by an Exeter team with Harvey Skinner at fly-half. That shouldn't happen. 

Exeter dominated a messy game and had it won by half-time when they led 24-0. Harlequins had a chance to respond early in the second period but failed to do so. Exeter look like a significantly improved team this season and will only grow with the additions of Ikitau and Hooper. Harlequins, meanwhile, will need to turn things around quickly if they are to avoid another season of mid-table mediocrity.