CRICKET scores and close encounters were the order of the day on the opening Saturday of the Courage League programme. The six matches in the top flight of English club rugby were evenly divided between nail biting battles and alarmingly one sided episodes.
Reigning champions Bath had been widely assessed beforehand as not being quite the force that lifted the trophy last year but they showed critics that they may have been premature in writing them off.
A slow start at Orrell preceded a second halt deluge of points which ended with a scoreline of 13-56. Simon Geoghegan got one of six Bath tries but injured himself in the process and limped off.
Geoghegan's former teammates at London Irish also faced West Country visitors in Bristol, who won by the narrowest of margins, 27-28, in a scrappy game. Niall Woods missed a difficult conversion three minutes from time which would have given the Exiles the match, but he was still one of the few to impress for London Irish despite their recent crop of international signings.
Two darting tries down the right wing from the former Blackrock man redeemed an ill disciplined performance by his teammates and he would have been even more effective had the ball reached his hands more often.
Much was expected of Victor Costello but the number eight has an ineffectual day as part of an aimless Irish back row. David Humphreys also had a day to quickly forget. Four missed penalties and two failed conversion attempts, any one of which could have been the difference between winning and losing, saw Humphreys relived of kicking duties late in the game.
Paul Burke won the battle of the international stand offs Sunbury and could be in line to regain his international place from Humphreys while David Corkery, according to Bristol coach Alan Davies, confessed that he felt comfortable passing the all for the first time in his life.
Such feats have never been a problem for Jonathan Bell and he notched up two tries in Northampton's 46-20 demolition of perennial strugglers West Hartlepool. Last year's second division champions indicated that they could cause trouble for any team and the England international halfback of Paul Grayson and Matt Dawson were rampant.
Jim Staples was just one of seven Harlequins to score tries in their 75-19 rout of Gloucester. Daren O'Leary did the most damage with four, tries as Harlequins paraded their French international signings Benezech and Cabannes, who also got in on the act with a try apiece.
The biggest shock of the day came at Saracens, who beat Leicester 25-23. The stg£2.5 million that Nigel Wray has put into the north London club looks well spent with Australian legend Michael Lynagh getting 17 points and Kyran Bracken marking his club debut with a try.
Saracens romped to a 25-9 lead before Leicester doggedly fought back but a John Liley penalty three minutes into injury time just fell short to give the points to the more ambitious side. Niall Malone was drafted into the centre for Leicester but was outshone by the man who lined up opposite him, arguably the biggest name of all the summer imports, Frenchman Philippe Sella.
