Leicester Tigers suffer a humiliating defeat at Exeter, while Harlequins beat Newcastle.

Leicester Tigers suffered a horror start to their Gallagher Premier League title defense after a try from Exeter’s Patrick Schickerling sent them into defeat in the last minute.

In a competitive game in which a draw would have been fair, Exeter were rewarded for a strong final 20 minutes – a 24-20 victory that boosted morale after they finished seventh last season.

Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick expressed his disappointment at the defeat, saying: “Exeter came out with a concrete plan but we missed some important opportunities.

“Going down to 14 with a yellow card and losing Freddie Burns to a bad assessment didn’t help.”

Chiefs’ Joe Simmonds and Tigers’ Burns traded early penalties before Burns missed a penalty and was sin-binned for deliberately overstepping his own dead ball line.

The Chiefs led 17-6 at halftime, but the Tigers tried shortly after halftime after Hanro Liebenberg capitalized on a Simmonds touchdown. The Tigers now had the momentum and took the lead when Charley Clare crossed.

But Exeter stormed back and were finally rewarded by Schickerling.

Harlequins managed to beat Newcastle 40-31 in a pulsating contest at Kingston Park

Meanwhile, Harlequins survived an opening day scare to beat Newcastle 40-31 in a tight contest at Kingston Park.

There were 11 tries in all and the Falcons led 31-28 going into the final 10 minutes before England internationals Alex Dumbrant and Joe Marchant converted late on to seal the win for Queens.

And Harlequins coach Thabai Matson praised his adventurous side afterwards. “One of the things I love about coaching this team is that they are so positive.” he said. “We took five points so it’s a stunning start and we’re happy to be getting on the plane home.”

England international Alex Dambrandt helped Harlequins beat Newcastle

​​​​​​​Although Queens made much of the early play, Newcastle wingers Adam Radwan and Nathan Earle scored sensational solo strikes for Newcastle to put them in front at the break.

Momentum swung back and forth in the second period. Tries from George Head and Lennox Anyanwu looked to have given Queens a breather before George McGuigan and Lagawi’i Mulipola responded.

But the international quality of Harlequins shone through. Dambrandt made an effort to restore the lead before Marchand capitalized on a loose ball to round up the score less than a minute later.