Gallagher Premiership Round 4: Highlights and reports of all six matches

It was a fascinating weekend of Gallagher Premiership action with three great encounters live on BT Sport.

Read on for match reports and to watch highlights of all six games from Round 4.

Friday 8 October

Harlequins 52-24 Bristol Bears

Saturday 9 October

Exeter Chiefs 42-5 Worcester Warriors

Gloucester 33-32 Sale Sharks

London Irish 16-21 Leicester Tigers

Saracens 37-23 Newcastle Falcons

Sunday 10 October

Wasps 26-20 Northampton Saints

Friday 8 October

Harlequins 52-24 Bristol Bears - Watch replay

Harlequins produced another stirring comeback against Bristol Bears to go top of the table and maintain their 100% Gallagher Premiership record so far this season.

Quins roared back to win last season’s play-off semi-final at Ashton Park from 28-0 down and needed something similarly impressive at The Stoop after a slow start.

Joe Joyce, the star of this week’s IMO, got the visitors up and running before Henry Purdy pierced the hosts’ defensive line and produced an impudent show-and-go to cross the whitewash.

More Bristol pressure saw star fullback Charles Piutau crash over, with Callum Sheedy duly bagging his third conversion of the night.

Marcus Smith then entered the fray at The Stoop for his first Quins appearance this season and the 22-year-old’s introduction was quickly followed by his team’s first try as Dombrandt this time fed Lynagh to go over in the corner, with Smith providing the conversion.

A Sheedy penalty saw the Bears lead 24-7 going into the break, but Quins won’t have been deterred by that deficit given last season’s heroics.

Lynagh’s second try of the net put the cat amongst the pigeons before Dombrandt fed Esterhuizen to take Tabai Matson’s men to within a score of their opponents.

The Londoners then proceeded to blow Pat Lam’s side away as Luke Northmore, Will Collier, Tyrone Green, Smith and Dombrandt all scored tries to leave the West Country outfit bewildered.

The Bears are now second from bottom and must respond against Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park, while Quins travel to Sale next Friday. 

Saturday 9 October

Exeter Chiefs 42-5 Worcester Warriors

Exeter marked the return of a number of key players including Sam Simmonds by thrashing Worcester at Sandy Park.

British and Irish Lion Simmonds picked up where he left off last season by scoring twice on his return, with brother Joe, Dave Ewers and Facundo Cordero also scoring for the Chiefs.

It was a welcome win for Exeter after a slow start to the season. Worcester, meanwhile, have now lost three of their last four matches.

Gloucester 33-32 Sale Sharks

Gloucester beat Sale by a single point in a nail-biting clash at Kingsholm after the visitors missed a conversion to win the game with the final kick.

An inspired Louis Rees-Zammit propelled the home side to a commanding lead with only minutes to play but Sale regrouped and had the chance to win it after Daniel du Preez, Gus Warr and Tommy Taylor went over.

But the hosts’ blushes were spared when Tom Curtis missed the crucial conversion in a thrilling encounter.

London Irish 16-21 Leicester Tigers

Leicester extended their perfect start to the season with a nail-biting win over London Irish at the Brentford Community Stadium.

The Tigers trailed 16-12 inside the last 20 minutes, but George Ford kicked them to victory in a tense encounter.

“You’ve got to adapt and find a way to overcome things and the players did that against a really tough team,” said head coach Steve Borthwick.

Saracens 37-23 Newcastle - Watch replay

Saracens fought back to claim a bonus-point win over Newcastle on their Premiership homecoming.

The hosts were 17-3 down after Mike Brown and Ben Stevenson touched down for the Falcons, but they closed the gap to 17-10 at the break and were superb in the second period.

Jamie George, Mako and Billy Vunipola all scored after the break to ensure Saracens marked their first home game since winning promotion back to the Premiership with a win.

Sunday 10 October

Wasps 26-20 Northampton - Watch replay

Wasps got back to winning ways and ended Northampton Saints’ perfect start to the Gallagher Premiership campaign with a 26-20 win in the midlands derby.

Sam Matavesi put Saints ahead after great work from Juarno Augustus, but Zach Kibirige reminded everyone of his pace to score and send the sides in level at the interval.

Thomas Young’s superb offload gave Dan Robson an easy score as the hosts took a 10-point lead with Jacob Umaga adding two penalties to cancel out Dan Biggar’s points from the tee.

Lewis Ludlam’s try got the visitors back into the encounter but two Jimmy Gopperth penalties kept Wasps ahead and it was enough to secure the win despite James Fish's last-minute try.