Archive September 26, 2025

The Prem.

Harlequins (17) 31

Cons: J Evans 3; Tries: W Evans 3; Kenningham; T Green;

Bath (14) 47

Bath, reigning champions, responded well to Harlequins’ attack with a strong second-half performance and won the title game with a bonus-point victory.

Will Evans, a flanker, scored a hat-trick in the opening 30 minutes to give the hosts a blistering start to the match.

Chandler Cunningham-South was sent to the sin-bin on 33 minutes thanks to Tom Dunn’s reply, which meant the score was 17-7.

And Bath took the lead for the first time with tries from Vilikesa Sela and Beno Obano within two minutes of the restart.

Due to injury, Harlequins lost both hookers George Turner and Jack Walker, meaning Bath made the most of the gap in the Quins pack’s attack in the final 26 minutes.

At the start of the new Prem season, the hosts showed no signs of rustiness, with Evans scoring twice in the opening eight minutes as Harlequins put pressure on the reigning champions before cutting off after Green and Cadan Murley had long runs.

Before Evans dotting over after Alex Dombrandt had broken through the line, Dunn soared over from a Bath line-out to give the visitors a hat-trick.

Sela scored from the tap-and-go five meters out before Cunnigham-South hit the sin-bin.

In the second half, Bath won the game and scored on an insider run from Arundell, with Obano completing the score.

After taking a big hit in a play where Ollie Lawrence’s try was disallowed after Joe Cokanasiga had stepped into touch during the build-up, Turner had to go off after taking the ball at half-time.

Without any hookers to call upon, the hosts relied on South African prop Jordan Els to continue the game with uncontested scrums.

Arundell, an England back in his first start, ran into the corner of a successful team move as Bath seized control of the game.

Before Arundell got his second of the match, Griffin and Underhill added their names to the scoresheet, while Kenningham responded for the hosts, and Green scored with the final arc of the match.

Replacements: Anderson, Els, Streeter, J Green, Carr, M Green, Kolade, and Turner

Sin-bin: Cunningham-South]33]

Bath: De Glanville, Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Redpath, Arundell, Ojomoh, Spencer, Obano, Dunn, Sela, Roux, Ewels, Bayliss, Pepper, Reid

Replacements: Underhill, Carr-Smith, Van Wyk, Tuipulotu, Van Wyk, Griffin, Molony, Hill, Carr-Smith, Harris, and Underhill

Play-off eliminator for Betfred Super League

Leigh (18) 26

Goals: O’Brien 5

Wakefield (0) 10

In their first Super League play-off eliminator, the Leigh Leopards defeated Wakefield Trinity 26-10 to advance to the semi-finals.

The visitors controlled the first half thanks to tries from Keanan Brand, Isaac Liu, and Josh Charnley, who finished nine points clear of Trinity in the regular season.

Wakefield had hoped in the opening period of the second half thanks to Jayden Myers’ response, but Cameron Scott’s super solo try was merely consolation due to a Gaz O’Brien penalty and Alec Tuitavake’s score.

As Leigh prepares to reach their first-ever Grand Final, they will need to travel to second-placed Wigan in the semi-finals.

Hughes, Tuitavake, Davis, and Dwyer make changes.

Wakefield includes McMeeken, Hood, Faatili, Griffin, Storton, Pitts, Myers, Scott, Pratt, Johnstone, Trueman, Lino, Myers, Myers, Scott, Myers, Scott, Pratt, and Scott.

Rodwell, Nikotemo, Atoni, and Smith swapped.

Affidea Stadium, home of the United Rugby Championship

Ulster (28) 42

class=”ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3″>Cons: Doak 5, Flannery, Timoney, McCann, Ward, Doak, and Timoney

Dragons (14) 21

With a bonus-point victory over the Dragons at Affidea Stadium, Ulster kicked off the 2025-26 United Rugby Championship campaign.

The hosts scored six tries in the 42-21 victory, three of which came in an eight-minute burst that ultimately turned the game in their favor.

Richie Murphy’s side crossed Cormac Izuchukwu, Nick Timoney, David McCann, Zac Ward, Nathan Doak, and Tom Stewart.

Wales back row Aaron Wainwright gave the Dragons the lead after just 12 seconds, but despite Jared Rosser and Shane Lewis-Hughes scoring more points, their attempts to recover from defeat failed.

Ulster stated that she wanted to be more consistent throughout the campaign as well as in individual games before the start of the season.

However, this was a game with a significant gap between their best and worst.

The northern province had 33 minutes before the team’s lead for the first time and went almost 40 full minutes without scoring between their two second-half tries, despite sealing their four-try bonus point before half-time.

Indeed, any early-season supporters who were hoping for a start-up campaign for a side that struggled through 2024-25 would have had their hopes dashed.

When a mistaken kick-off gave Wainwright the opportunity to nip in, gather his own kick, and start the scoring, there were only 12 seconds left.

Although Ulster consistently appeared to have the ability to cross the gain-line and break up the game, they were repeatedly let down by their own errors in the first half thanks to the likes of Izuchukwu, Michael Lowry, and Stuart McCloskey.

After 16 minutes, Rosser put the Dragons’ second in front of hooker Elliot Dee, who had an early injury that made them want to play for the first time in the league since the opening round of the previous season.

Ulster’s athleticism eventually came to an end with Izuchukwu and Timoney firing over from close range before Lowry’s contribution to McCann and Ward’s scores was outstanding.

This side was only in two places last season, but this table had 29 points, so that was never particularly clear through the second half.

Only two minutes after the restart, Doak’s try put the hosts in control and put a final score before Stewart’s replacement hooker scampered over with the final play.

The northern province will definitely have room for improvement as they progress through this seemingly crucial first set of fixtures, which includes a two-game trip to South Africa next month. They have already started the season with five points.

Stewart, Crean, Wilson, Dalton, Augustus, McKee, Flannery, and Carson are the replacements.

O’Brien (co-capt), Dyer (co-capt), Westwood (co-capt), Owen (co-capt), Rosser (co-capt), De Beer (co-capt), Williams (joint), Jones (dee), Hunt (co-capt), Carter (co-capt), Lewis-Hughes (co-capt), Keddie (co-capt), and Wainwright (co-capt).

Coghlan, Martinez, Lewis, Douglas, Martin, Hope, Inisi, Anderson, and their replacements.