Newcastle & Bath reach Premiership Cup semi-finals
Newcastle will host Bath in the Premiership Cup semi-finals after both sides came through their quarter-final ties.Bath were 21-0 down against Harlequins at the Recreation Ground but rallied with the help of a very experienced bench to score six tries and win 39-28.Newcastle selected a first-choice XV and a hat-trick from hooker Jamie Blamire helped see off a largely second-string Gloucester 22-17.Exeter entertain Sale and Ealing travel to Northampton in the other quarter-finals.
Bath had a far less experienced starting XV than Harlequins and quickly found themselves three tries down.Full-back Tyrone Green scored in the first minute before centres Will Joseph and then Ben Waghorn saw Quins three tries up after only 14 minutes.Bath's 15, Tom de Glanville, got them on the board with their first try and although Argentina winger Rodrigo Iscro went over to extend Quins' lead, scrum-half Tom Carr-Smith scored for the hosts to make it 28-14 at the break. Bath then unleashed a platter of experienced replacements to take control of the game and tries from hooker Tom Dunn, number eight Arthur Green, flanker Jaco Coetzee and centre Louie Hennessey's superb diving finish in the right corner saw them comfortably through.
Falcons see off Gloucester
Newcastle dominated the first half at Kingston Park and Blamire's first try, from a rolling maul, and a Brett Connon penalty saw them lead 8-0 at the break.Winger Louis Hillman-Cooper scored for Gloucester six minutes into the second half but another maul soon after led to Blamire's second try.Charlie Atkinson landed a 48-metre penalty to bring Gloucester back to 15-10 down but again the Falcons extended their lead as another driving maul brought Blamire's hat-trick.Kieran Wilkinson was sin-binned for the hosts for a deliberate knock-on and winger Matty Ward took advantage to go under the posts to keep Gloucester in touch but it was as close as they got.
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