Gloucester beat Harlequins 48-0 to move top of the Prem

Gloucester moved to the top of the early Prem standings with a 48-0 victory over Harlequins at Kingsholm, scoring eight tries without reply. According to BBC Sport's match report, the result gave Gloucester two wins from two league matches and a third successive victory across all competitions. Harlequins remained bottom of the table without a point.

Watch the highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwtIdv5bIZg

The hosts started with three new signings, including Wales internationals Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake, while Harlequins gave England full-back George Furbank his debut. Ben Loader opened the scoring after Charlie Atkinson's kick picked out the winger on the left. Gloucester then increased their advantage through Morgan, who crossed shortly after Harlequins flanker Will Evans was sent to the sin bin.

Morgan also helped create the third try, carrying strongly before Will Trenholm finished from close range around the half-hour mark. George Barton added the conversion from near the touchline. A 50:22 kick by scrum-half Caolan Englefield subsequently gave Gloucester another attacking platform, and Charlie Atkinson broke a tackle to score near the posts. Barton's conversion made it 24-0 at the interval.

Gloucester continued scoring immediately after the break. Seb Atkinson finished an attack built around two short passes, before a Harlequins restart from Connor Slevin failed to travel the required 10 metres. On Gloucester's next attack, Will Joseph's run and offload released Englefield for another try. Joseph then crossed himself, completing a sequence of three home tries inside the opening 12 minutes of the second half.

Barton became Gloucester's eighth different try-scorer when he gathered another Charlie Atkinson kick towards the corner and reached over the line. The full-back also contributed four conversions across the match. Joseph appeared to have added a second personal try with the final play, which would have taken the hosts beyond 50 points, but that effort was disallowed because of a knock-on in the build-up.

The final score therefore stayed at 48-0, with Gloucester keeping Harlequins scoreless throughout both halves. Their eight tries were shared between Loader, Morgan, Trenholm, Charlie Atkinson, Seb Atkinson, Englefield, Joseph and Barton. The result left the teams at opposite ends of the early standings: Gloucester leading the competition and Harlequins still waiting for their first league points.