Bath sparkle at Kingsholm

Bath coach Andy Robinson looks on at Kingsholm

Gloucester 16-36 Bath

Bath secured an emphatic victory over Gloucester to move into third position in the Allied Dunbar Premiership at Kingsholm on Saturday.

In a match that saw Gloucester's England prop Phil Vickery sent off and Ben Clarke and Rob Fidler sinbinned, Bath always had too much fire, especially among the backs.

Bath now move into third position in the Premiership

Vickery got his red card for diving into a ruck in which Bath hooker Mark Regan was badly injured.

He was treated for several minutes with other players still lying beneath him and was then stretchered off after a neck brace was fitted.

The injury had a dramatic effect on the game. Just when Gloucester seemed to be staging a revival the departure of Vickery took the sting out of their play.

Bath however had sewn up the match in the first half with a four-try blitz that emphasised their splendid handling and running.

Bedford 32-22 Newcastle

Bedford recorded their first League win of the season after 16 games of waiting.

They scored within 50 seconds of the start and deep into injury time to embarrass fellow strugglers Newcastle.

In between they built up a 20-3 half-time lead only for Jonny Wilkinson to claw it back to 20-15 with a succession of penalties - one of which was from the half-way line.

The Bedford players trudged off to a superb reception from their crowd who have waited a long time for victory.

Newcastle paid the penalty for having two men - Inga Tuigamala and Ross Beattie - in the sin bin at the same time.

During that time Bedford landed a penalty and then winger Paul Sackey ran in a try which skipper Andy Gomarsall converted for a 17-point lead at the interval.

Then Wilkinson started his recovery act. Newcastle got close but stood back and watched as Bedford number eight Ryan Banks went over for a try on a rare foray up the field.

Still Newcastle came back again and when Wilkinson converted Beattie's try seven minutes from the end they were still in with a chance.

But Bedford worked their way up the field, refused a penalty kick at goal and from the lineout, hooker Chris Pearson went over for the score which sealed the match.

Sale 36-20 Harlequins

The second half sin-binning of Harlequins' skipper Gareth Llewellyn was the signal for Sale to take control in their first home game for two months.

The home support had plenty to cheer about as Sale got off to the best of starts with a try after just two minutes for Barrie-Jon Mather.

Nicky Little converted and went on to score three penalties in a rewarding first 15 minutes for Sale.

Rob Liley pulled three points back for Quins but the Londoners struggled to make their mark.

Quins increased the pressure as the first half went on and duly got their reward when Brendan Daniel finally crossed the Sale line, and John Schuster reduced the gap further with the conversion and a penalty.

Sale were fired up for the second half and increased their lead with another penalty from Little after an infringement saw Harlequins skipper Llewellyn shown the white card.

Replacement hooker Steve Diamond added to Quins' misery when he scored in the corner and just three minutes later Alex Sanderson touched down with Little converting both.

Little was on form and put Sale even further ahead with a drop goal. In the last minute of the game an intercepted pass saw Daniel race half the length of the field and score under the post for a consolation try for Quins.