Gallagher Premiership weekend schedule - Friday: Gloucester 38-22 Exeter Chiefs; Saturday: Harlequins 26-24 London Irish, Northampton Saints 45-31 Bristol Bears (3pm), Worcester Warriors C-C Bath; Sunday: Saracens vs Sale Sharks (3pm), Wasps C-C Newcastle Falcons
Saturday 29 October 2022 20:27, UK
Recap Saturday's Gallagher Premiership action as Harlequins beat London Irish late on in a fiery derby, while Northampton were too strong for Bristol...
George Head's last-second try gave Harlequins a dramatic 26-24 victory over local rivals London Irish in a match at the Twickenham Stoop that featured two red cards.
The Exiles were trying to lift themselves off the bottom of the Gallagher Premiership and saw a 14-0 half-time lead cancelled out before regaining the advantage in the closing stages through Paddy Jackson's penalty.
This was after Irish's Ben Donnell and Quins' Nick David had both been sent off for dangerous tackles, but the hosts, as is so often the case, would not be denied as they lifted themselves up to fourth.
Alex Mitchell ran the show as Northampton condemned Bristol to a fourth successive Gallagher Premiership defeat by winning 45-31 at Franklin's Gardens.
Scrum-half Mitchell, who has been overlooked by England head coach Eddie Jones for the Autumn Nations Series, sparked a first-half try blitz by crossing twice in six minutes.
Wing Ollie Sleightholme and lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto followed suit before the break as Northampton secured a bonus point after just 32 minutes.
Matt Proctor added a fifth touchdown early in the second period, with debutant fly-half Fin Smith kicking five conversions and a penalty as he impressed following his arrival from Worcester.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Blair Kinghorn missed a last-minute penalty chance for Scotland to beat Australia at Murrayfield in their opening autumn Test, as the Wallabies held on for a 16-15 victory.
A first half dominated by Australia saw Scotland score first, as full-back Ollie Smith stepped and dived over on 11 minutes after good work from centre Sione Tuipulotu and fly-half Kinghorn - the latter starting in place of the omitted Finn Russell.
Australia fly-half Bernard Foley hit back with two penalties for a narrow 6-5 half-time lead, as the Wallabies conceded five turnovers to Scotland in the hosts' 22, and failed to make their superiority count.
Kinghorn struck for a superb counter-attacking try early in the second half, and then added a penalty for a nine-point lead, but a sin-binning for Scotland replacement second row Glen Young - who was fortunate to avoid a red card - saw Australia come back into it.
Wallabies skipper and loosehead James Slipper struck with Young off the park for Australia's only try, before Foley added a penalty inside the final 10 minutes as the visitors held on for the slenderest of victories.