Tom Parton makes Premiership history as Saracens emphatically bounce back from Bordeaux battering
Tom Parton of Saracens with the ball.
Winger Tom Parton broke David Strettle’s record for the earliest hat-trick in Premiership history as Saracens thumped Gloucester 46-24 at StoneX Stadium.
It took just under 21 minutes for Parton to run in the first of Saracens’ three tries as he bettered Strettle’s record 22-minute hat-trick against Worcester back in 2013.
Saracens crossed the whitewash on seven occasions in the win that consolidated their place in the top four as they emphatically responded to their Investec Champions Cup humbling against Bordeaux Begles a fortnight ago.
Gloucester winger Josh Hathaway claimed a hat-trick of his own with Seb Blake scoring a fourth for the Cherry and Whites as they managed to secure a bonus point despite the heavy defeat.
Theo McFarland, Tom Willis, Ollie Hartley and Lucio Cinti also crossed for Saracens with Owen Farrell adding seven points from the tee and Manu Vunipola converted two tries.
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It took Saracens seven minutes to open the scoring when the ball went through the hands of Aled Davies, Farrell and Alex Goode before Parton finished down the left, with Farrell converting from out wide.
Parton made it a double in the 12th minute when he was found in acres of space by Goode after he had been picked out by a long pass from Farrell, who again added the extras.
A quickfire hat-trick for the former London Irish man was then completed when he nipped in again down his wing after Davies had broken away from a driving maul.
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Sarries thought they had secured the try bonus point after half an hour when Tom Willis burrowed over, but a knock-on by Ben Earl at the preceding ruck led to the score being ruled out.
The hosts were, however, playing with an advantage and ensured they finished the attack with three points as Farrell knocked over a simple penalty.
It took less than two minutes of the second half for Saracens’ 22-0 half-time lead to be extended when Theo McFarland rose above Jake Morris to gather Farrell’s cross-field kick and score Sarries’ fourth try.
To make matters worse for Gloucester, they had Albert Tuisue sent to the sin bin for making head-on-head contact with Rotimi Segun.
Having been denied earlier, Willis did get on the scoresheet in the 57th minute when he was given an armchair ride to the line off the back of a driving maul.
Gloucester finally got themselves on the board with an hour played when Hathaway chased down a neat kick-through from hooker Seb Blake to score.
Normal service was quickly resumed, however, when Vunipola went through a gaping hole down the centre before his pass put Olly Hartley in the clear.
Saracens soon had their seventh try when Hartley timed his pass to put Lucio Cinti into the corner on the left.
The Cherry and Whites belatedly rallied late on as Hathaway completed his treble by cashing in on a couple of loose Sarries’ passes before Blake went over off the final play.
Saracens v Gloucester
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Rotimi Segun, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Tom Parton, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Aled Davies, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Theo McFarland, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Billy Vunipola, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Manu Vunipola, 23 Olly Hartley
Gloucester: 15 George Barton, 14 Josh Hathaway, 13 Louis Hillman-Cooper, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Jake Morris, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Caolan Englefield, 8 Jack Clement, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 6 Albert Tuisue, 5 Freddie Thomas, 4 Arthur Clark, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Santi Socino, 1 Mayco Vivas
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Danny Eite, 20 Rob Nixon, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Jack Reeves, 23 Ioan Jones
Venue: StoneX Stadium
Kick-off: 15:00 BST
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson, Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Rowan Kitt