Leigh Halfpenny celebrated a first Gallagher Premiership try as Harlequins picked up a 28-14 bonus-point victory over Newcastle at Twickenham Stoop.
The former Wales and Lions Test star joined the Londoners in the summer after completing the Super Rugby Pacific season with Crusaders in New Zealand.
And Halfpenny, capped 101 times by his country, showed his experience and skill in the west London sunshine, helping his new side bounce back from last weekend's agonising one-point loss to Sale Sharks.
The dynamic former Cardiff, Toulon and Scarlets man was on hand to take the pass from young wing Cassius Cleaves to race over for Quins' third try.
After conceding an early try to the visitors, Marcus Smith kicked four conversions to help seal what became a relatively straightforward victory for Quins.
For Newcastle, however, it was their second Premiership defeat of the new season and 23rd in a row. It is now 554 days since they last savoured a taste of league success with a win over Gloucester in March 2023.
Quins head coach Danny Wilson reserved special praise for his star No 10 Smith, and said: "I've just told Marcus that was his pre-season friendly because he's not been able to put the Quins jersey and boots on for a while.
"He's had a long lay-off so to come back and be as influential as he was is testament to the man."
Sarries win first home match of season as Ford injured
Alex Lozowski's 22-point haul helped Saracens beat Sale 45-26 in their first home match of the new season.
Saracens were looking to build on a 35-26 triumph over Gloucester in their opening match of the campaign, but they got off to a difficult start at the StoneX Stadium.
The hosts were 3-0 down after just four minutes when England fly-half George Ford kicked a penalty from in front of the posts. The Sharks No 10 had a chance to increase the lead a minute later with another shot at goal but, on this occasion, his effort fell just short.
Ford's afternoon took an unexpected turn in the seventh minute when he was forced to withdraw due to injury in an early blow for the visitors.
Lozowski twisted the knife and got the hosts back on level terms with a successful penalty of his own.
However, Sale moved 10-3 ahead in the 21st minute when Gus Warr got on the end of a flowing Sharks move before crossing the whitewash to score.
Elliot Daly kicked a long-range penalty to reduce the deficit as Sarries looked for an immediate response and it was 10-9 moments later when Lozowski slotted his second penalty of the afternoon.
Sale then lost flanker Sam Dugdale to a yellow card for a high tackle on Ben Earl in the closing stages of the half, and Lozowski kicked the resulting penalty to put the hosts ahead for the first time.
But Sale hit back again and Robert du Preez kicked a penalty on the stroke of half-time to give his team a one-point advantage at the break.
The game continued to ebb and flow and Mark McCall's side moved 15-13 ahead within minutes of the restart as Lozowski converted another penalty from in front of the posts.
Another successful Lozowski strike extended Sarries' lead to five points and Tobias Elliott then scored his side's opening try in the 53rd minute to compound Sharks' misery.
Lozowski's conversion made it 25-13 but Du Preez slotted his second penalty to reduce the deficit to nine points.
Sale hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie set up a tense final 20 minutes when he placed the ball over the try line from the back of a driving maul.
Saracens responded with their second try of the match when England back Daly latched on to a grubber kick before powering over the whitewash to make it 30-21.
The momentum was with the hosts, and after winning a penalty with a dominant showing at the scrum, they opted to kick for the corner rather than take the points.
The risk paid off as Jamie George powered over from the back of the driving maul to give his side a two-try cushion.
Another Lozowski penalty made it 38-21 but Sharks thought they had the final say as Tom O'Flaherty crossed in the corner.
However, Dugdale was shown a second yellow after the clock had turned red before Daly crossed again to wrap up Saracens' win.
Ford to undergo tests
England fly-half Ford will undergo tests on Monday to determine the extent of the injury he sustained during the clash.
Sharks physio Navdeep Sandhu said of the 31-year-old playmaker - who missed England's summer tour of Japan and New Zealand with a damaged Achilles - after the match: "Yeah, so George just felt his quad when he went for that long-distance kick.
"He thought like he felt he could carry on, but it was just slightly aware of it and I suspected that that meant it would get worse and worse and worse as the game carried on. So we decided to make the change.
"We just had a look at him in the changing room and he is a little bit sore.
"It is not too bad and we will get some imaging on that on Monday morning.
"It is probably too early to say [how severe his injury is], the fact we are getting an image of it means we are suspecting something. But we probably do not know enough."
Saints return to winning ways
Reigning champions Northampton got back to winning ways after withstanding an Immanuel Feyi-Waboso-inspired late rally in their 30-24 success over Exeter.
Saints appeared to be cruising at 30-10, but the England winger dotted down two converted tries in eight minutes to set up a tense finale.
Their first try of the season at Franklin's Garden came in the ninth minute when a line-out move saw South African number eight Juarno Augustus gallop deep into Exeter territory before offloading to lock Alex Coles to cross next the posts, with fly-half Fin Smith converting.
Saints showed their eagerness to keep the scoreboard moving when they opted for the posts when awarded a penalty almost on halfway and Smith's boot put them into double figures.
Chiefs were building attacks well but on three occasions when they got into the Saints' 22, they were penalised for not releasing the ball in the tackle.
The closest they came to scoring came just past the midway point of the first half when young winger Paul Brown-Bampoe - making his first Premiership start - made a 50-metre break down the left touchline, but Smith got back well to halt him.
Another Smith penalty after a scrum infringement by Exeter right in front of the posts stretched Northampton's lead to 13 points, and they appeared to be comfortably keeping Chiefs at bay as half-time approached.
However, fly-half Harvey Skinner sold a dummy in midfield and created the space to send Olly Woodburn - playing out of position at centre due to Exeter's extensive injury list - under the posts, with Josh Hodge converting to leave Exeter only seven points adrift at the break.
The Chiefs changed the whole of their front row at the interval and it took them only three minutes to eat further into that gap with a 53-metre penalty by Hodge.
However, Saints' riposte was instant, straight from the restart, when lock Chunya Munga charged down scrum-half Sam Maunder's attempted box kick to cross for a 20-10 lead.
Four minutes later, Saints seemingly put the game beyond Exeter's reach when a cross-field kick by England full-back George Furbank found Scotland centre Rory Hutchinson loitering on the touchline to dot down.
Smith's 35-metre drop-goal on the hour made it 17 points in 15 minutes for Saints as they eased well clear.
Feyi-Waboso was denied a try in the corner by England team-mate Tommy Freeman, but moments later he did cross despite hints of a knock-on in the build-up by Woodburn, with Hodge converting off the post.
Hutchinson was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Woodburn with three minutes left and from the scrum Exeter took from the penalty, Feyi-Waboso was given the room to get over for his second touchdown to get them to within bonus-point range and hope of victory, but time ran out.
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