Owen Farrell returned to club colours with Saracens for the first time since the 2019 Guinness Six Nations and helped them to a bonus-point win over Newcastle Falcons.
After missing Sarries’ win over Glasgow Warriors in the European quarter-finals for the birth of his first child last week, Farrell was back in the No.10 shirt this weekend at Allianz Park.
And while Mark McCall’s men struggled in the first half and trailed at the break, they turned on the style in the second period to see off the Falcons.
Scotland winger Sean Maitland crossed for their first try but the key moment came with the last play of the game as Farrell put England centre Alex Lozowski into a hole to cross for Sarries’ fourth try that gained them a bonus point and denied Newcastle one in the process.
Top of the table in the Premiership remain Exeter Chiefs however, as they ran riot in an impressive 52-20 win over Leicester Tigers at Welford Road.
Jack Nowell and Henry Slade, both try-scorers for England during the 2019 Championship, dotted down for the visitors while Jonny May – the top try scorer in the Championship – went over in defeat for the Tigers.
The Tigers also revealed that Ben Youngs is out for the rest of the season after shoulder surgery.
Elsewhere Jonathan Joseph and Joe Cokanasiga both continued their impressive form at Twickenham, the duo both crossed for scores in Bath’s 26-19 win over Bristol in The Clash.
Jamie Roberts also went over for Bath to remind Warren Gatland of his qualities despite missing out on the 2019 Championship.
Roberts’ long-time centre partner for Wales Jonathan Davies dotted down for Scarlets in their defeat to Edinburgh – Gareth Davies was also on the scoresheet.
It was better news for Justin Tipuric however, the Wales flanker from their Grand Slam campaign taking over the Ospreys captaincy and crossing for a try in their win over the Cheetahs.
Tommaso Allan held his nerve with a late conversion to give Benetton Rugby a dramatic 27-27 draw with Leinster.
Federico Ruzza also dotted down for Benetton who were rescued late on by Iliesa Ratuva’s magic solo score.
Italy winger Mattia Bellini, who impressed in the 2018 Championship before injury ruled him out this year, returned to form with Zebre this weekend.
But his try was not enough to prevent them slipping to a 6-5 defeat to Connacht, Ireland fly-half Jack Carty kicking the two decisive penalties.
Meanwhile over in France, Louis Picamoles bagged a double for Montpellier in their 33-17 win over Agen in the Top 14 while Romain Ntamack was powerless to prevent Toulouse slipping to their first league defeat in 2019 in a 25-10 loss to Toulon.
