Jonny Wilkinson enjoyed an armchair ride in front of acting England head coach Andy Robinson as Newcastle brushed Bath aside 33-18 in front of a sell-out crowd of 10,400 at the Recreation Ground. Wilkinson booted 13 points in the comfortable away victory.

Newcastle will be appealing against Phil Dowson's dismissal following a punch-up involving both sets of forwards in injury time. 'We think it was a case of mistaken identity,' said director of rugby Rob Andrew. 'We believe the touch judge got the wrong number.'

Bath lost last week as well and their 'reward' is a special training session at 10am today.

It was business as usual at a packed Welford Road as Leicester overwhelmed Leeds 42-20. The Tigers might have slipped up on the opening day of the season at Sale, but they were straight back into a formidable old home routine as even Martin Johnson scored a try, Leicester's first.

Debutant Seru Rabeni, Harry Ellis and Henry Tuilagi added to Johnson's effort and they were awarded a penalty try in the second half. Andy Goode added 17 points with an assured kicking display.