Salty celebrations, questionable signings and Test bolters - Prem talking points

The stats piled up after a car-crash performance by Harlequins in a 48-0 shellacking by Gloucester.

The biggest league defeat in 26 years. Seventeen penalties conceded. Only two entries made into the opposition 22m. Not one of their starting forward pack making more than four carries.

It was a desperately under-powered display.

Boss Jason Gilmore described it as "totally unacceptable" in the aftermath.

The Australian has overseen a few eyesores during his time in charge; a 38-0 reverse at Sandy Park and a 40-14 reverse at the club's festive fixture at Allianz Stadium come to mind.

Gilmore says turning around the tanker will take time. Contracts have to run down and money reassigned to different areas of the squad.

Full-back George Furbank was this summer's big investment. The 29-year-old marked his Prem debut for his new club with a couple of trademark breaks, slicing up from backfield.

He is a classy addition, but is he the signing they needed, with little room to manoeuvre under the salary cap and a creaking forward pack limiting the supply of ball to the backline?

England loosehead prop Fin Baxter has been out for 10 months with a foot injury, but should be back soon. South African tighthead Sampie Swiegers is in contention for selection after his arrival in London.

Chandler Cunningham-South and Guido Petti may be due a run from the start.

But, with Alex Dombrandt expected to miss the majority of the season with a knee ligament injury sustained in June, Quins will need them all to hit the ground running.

Snarl up front, rather than style out back, is where they are lacking.

Bristol chief executive Tom Tainton caught some flak earlier this year for saying the Bears needs to think like a marketing agency, rather than a traditional rugby club,, external to grow its fanbase.

The image of Louis Rees-Zammit mimicking Northampton star Henry Pollock's 'pulse-check' celebration, and the delight it sparked among fans, were evidence in his favour however.

A 20,756-strong crowd at Ashton Gate – up 5,000 on their win in the same fixture last year, partly helped by football's international break – relished a spiky performance all round from Rees-Zammit.

The Wales international could easily have had a hat-trick in a 34-26 win over Saints, but was body-checked by Tommy Freeman in pursuit of a final-play chip ahead, earning a penalty try and sending his opposite number on his way with a few blunt observations.

Rees-Zammit, restored to the wing after dabbling at full-back on his return from American football, has four tries already this season and Bristol, who were well in last year's play-off hunt before a dip in form after the Six Nations, are looking ominous.

The next four rounds of action – Saracens (a), Exeter (h), Leicester (h) and Bath (a) – are a big chance to dent some other top-four hopefuls.

Rees-Zammit was not the only wing on a wind-up this weekend either, by the way. Adam Radwan's gleeful celebration of his try for Leicester against former club Newcastle, marking his territory by pointing to the pitch below his studs, drew jeers from the Kingston Park crowd.

England boss Steve Borthwick was at The Rec on Friday night.

He will have taken particular interest in one 28th-minute scrum.

Beno Obano and Will Stuart, either side of hooker Tom Dunn, made the Exeter front row look as though they were wearing skis rather than studs, sending the visitors skidding backwards at a rate of knots.

Considering Baxter's lack of game time and Bevan Rodd being ruled out of the autumn after wrist surgery, Obano may well be the back-up loosehead option to Ellis Genge for England's Nations Championship campaign.

Stuart's welcome return from an Achilles injury is likely to have him installed as the tighthead replacement behind the excellent Joe Heyes.

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.

Gloucester fly-half Charlie Atkinson may well be twisting Borthwick's arm as well.

The 25-year-old has been central to the Cherry and Whites' electric start to the season.

He set up the opening try of their thrashing of Harlequins with a cute jink past Will Porter and then a pinpoint crossfield bomb for Ben Loader a couple of passages later. A hint of a dummy and a dart took Atkinson himself over for his team's fourth.

His substandard goal-kicking may count against him. 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. Team-mate George Barton had kicking duties on Saturday.

But if Borthwick wants a back-up stand-off that more closely replicates the playing style of first-choice Fin Smith, Atkinson may be due promotion after three appearances for England A last season.

Last year's runners-up Exeter have begun the season with successive defeats, but there was significant improvement on their opening-day defeat by Gloucester as they threatened to climb off the canvas and overturn Bath, just as they did in June's semi-final at The Rec.

A fit, firing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso - 133m carried, nine defenders beaten and two tries - was an obvious plus for the Chiefs.

But Kane James made a major step forward.

The 21-year-old Welsh international, who only made his first Prem start at the beginning of this season, was fearless at the Rec, flying into contact with relish.

As well as that wince-inducing ball-carrying, he was cleaning up on the floor, winning three turnovers.

Australia international Tom Hooper is now back in the south west, but has had a high workload switching between Chiefs and Wallabies' duties.

James has made a decent claim to holding on to his back-row spot a little longer.

With the clock in the red and five points down on the scoreboard, Newcastle Red Bulls smuggled the ball out wide to a full-flight Christian Wade.

The 35-year-old had a corridor of space to accelerate into and 45m to cover to the tryline.

Leicester replacement Tom Whiteley just about managed to shut the gap and, a few phases later, Newcastle infringed to give away a penalty and snuff out any hope of victory.

Like Wade's try record however, it is coming for Newcastle.

After a decent showing in defeat away to champions Northampton in the opening round, Newcastle had the upper hand on Leicester for large stretches.

The visitors made more than double the number of tackles of their opponents.

The accuracy to turn possession into points is one of a number of things that will surely improve steeply as the Newcastle squad, revamped with more than 20 summer signings, gel together.