- Newcastle 20-26 Harlequins
- Danny Care and Joe Marchant also score for Harlequins
Coaches are fond of saying the season is a marathon and not a sprint but, whatever the length of the race, it helps to get off to a good start. Harlequins, the defending champions who beat Exeter in the greatest final in Premiership history last season, did that after opening the defence of their crown in typically exhilarating fashion.
Louis Lynagh, the precociously talented son of the former Australia captain Michael Lynagh, whose two dramatic late tries won the title for Quins at Twickenham, weighed in with another predatory double at Newcastle.
