Salty celebrations, worrying signings and Test contenders: early Prem talking points

After the opening two rounds of the Premiership, Gloucester inflicted a 48-0 defeat on Harlequins in a match that produced the league's biggest reverse in 26 years and left only three clubs — Gloucester, Bristol and Bath — with two wins from two.

Harlequins' performance was dissected in stark statistics: 17 penalties conceded, only two entries into the opposition 22m, and not one of their starting forward pack making more than four carries. Head coach Jason Gilmore described the display as "totally unacceptable", and pointed to previous heavy defeats during his tenure, including 38-0 at Sandy Park and 40-14 at Allianz Stadium. Gilmore warned rebuilding would take time, saying contracts must run down and money be reassigned, while summer signing full-back George Furbank, aged 29, marked his Premiership debut for Quins with a couple of trademark breaks but raised questions over whether he is the positional answer given a creaking forward pack and limited salary-cap flexibility.

Quins face several availability and selection issues up front: loosehead Fin Baxter has been out for 10 months with a foot injury but should be back soon, tighthead Sampie Swiegers is in contention after his arrival, and Chandler Cunningham-South and Guido Petti may be due starting opportunities. Alex Dombrandt is expected to miss the majority of the season after sustaining a knee ligament injury in June, intensifying the need for forward reinforcement. The club’s problems were described succinctly in the report as a lack of snarl up front rather than style out back.

Gloucester’s fast start was driven in part by fly-half Charlie Atkinson, who set up the opening try with a jink past Will Porter, delivered a pinpoint crossfield kick for Ben Loader and then finished with a dummy and dart for his side’s fourth. Atkinson’s goal-kicking was described as substandard: "Of players with a minimum of 10 kicks at goal, only Bath's Santi Carreras had a lower success-rate off the tee in 2025-26," and team-mate George Barton assumed kicking duties on Saturday. Atkinson made three appearances for England A last season, and the piece notes he "may well be twisting [England boss Steve] Borthwick's arm" for future consideration.

Bristol’s Louis Rees-Zammit leads the early try-scoring charts with four tries and captured headlines with a celebration that mimicked Northampton’s Henry Pollock's 'pulse-check' routine. Ashton Gate hosted 20,756 spectators — up 5,000 on Bristol's win in the same fixture last year, partly attributed to football's international break — as Rees-Zammit nearly completed a hat-trick in a 34-26 victory over Northampton but was body-checked by Tommy Freeman in the chase for a late chip, an intervention that resulted in a penalty try and saw Freeman dismissed amid "a few blunt observations". Rees-Zammit has been restored to the wing after a period at full-back following his return from American football.

Bath registered revenge against Exeter in an 11-try contest at The Rec, a fixture attended by England boss Steve Borthwick on Friday night who took particular interest in a 28th-minute scrum. Beno Obano and Will Stuart, either side of hooker Tom Dunn, dominated the set-piece and drove Exeter backward, a performance the report links to international selection considerations: with Baxter’s lack of game time and Bevan Rodd being ruled out of the autumn after wrist surgery, Obano "may be the back-up loosehead option to Ellis Genge" for England's Nations Championship campaign, while Stuart's return from an Achilles injury is likely to position him as the tighthead replacement behind Joe Heyes. The article adds that Borthwick "may well lean into their Bath connection as he rebuilds a 'bomb squad' bench which was crucial to England's good form in 2025."

Exeter still found positives despite successive defeats, notably Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who carried for 133m, beat nine defenders and scored two tries, and 21-year-old Kane James, a Wales international who made only his first Premiership start at the start of the season and won three turnovers in the game. The report notes Australia international Tom Hooper has returned to the south west but has carried a heavy workload switching between Chiefs and Wallabies duties, while James has "made a decent claim to holding on to his back-row spot a little longer."

In the north, Newcastle's Christian Wade produced a 45m try in the closing stages but Leicester held on for their first Premiership win after Tom Whiteley closed the chasing angle and Newcastle then infringed, conceding a late penalty that ended their chance of victory. Newcastle had earlier shown promise following a decent opening-round defeat away to champions Northampton, making more than double the number of tackles of their opponents, and the report comments that the accuracy to turn possession into points should improve as a squad rebuilt with more than 20 summer signings gels together.

Bristol now face a run of fixtures against Saracens (a), Exeter (h), Leicester (h) and Bath (a) over the next four rounds, which the report identifies as a significant opportunity to test other top-four hopefuls after the club's strong start.