Saracens leave it late, Worcester and Wasps collapse

Saracens went top of the Premiership with a narrow victory over Sale Sharks, while Bath saw off Worcester and Northampton compounded Wasps’ misery.

Bath 30-13 Worcester
Recreation Ground

A dominant Bath eased to a 30-13 victory in the mid-table clash against Worcester Warriors at the Rec, having led 16-10 at half-time.

Duncan Weir and Freddie Burns traded penalties before the hosts scored the first try of the game. After a patient build-up, Semesa Rokoduguni finished off from close range in the 20th minute and Burns added the extras.

However, Worcester hit back straightaway, with some fantastic hands setting up Ryan Mills for the finish just five minutes later. Weir made no mistake with his conversion.

Two more Burns penalties put Bath in front at the break. After half-time, they picked up where they left off, with Matt Garvey charging down Francois Hougaard’s kick and Tom Ellis claiming a 47th minute try. Once again, Burns converted.

Weir responded with a penalty in the 53rd minute, but despite their best efforts, Warriors were frustrated by the hosts.

To make matters worse, Bath added another converted try to their tally as the clock ticked into the dying minutes. It all started with a lineout steal in midfield and ended with Elliott Stooke going over from close range to seal the victory.

The scorers:

For Bath:
Tries: Rokoduguni, Ellis, Stooke
Cons: Burns 3
Pens: Burns 3

For Worcester:
Try: Mills
Con: Weir
Pens: Weir 2

Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Josh Bayliss, 7 Tom Ellis, 6 Matt Garvey (c), 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Nathan Catt
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 Levi Douglas, 21 Kahn Fotuali’i, 22 Max Wright, 23 Ruaridh McConnochie

Worcester: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Perry Humphreys, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 GJ van Velze (c), 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Matti Williams, 5 Darren Barry, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Callum Black
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Pierce Phillips, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Michael Heaney, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Wynand Olivier

Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales, Roy Maybank
TMO: David Rose

Northampton 36-17 Wasps
Franklin’s Gardens

Wasps continued their dismal run of form with a 36-17 defeat to Northampton, having trailed 16-3 at half-time.

Saints were on the front foot from early on, with a superb cross-kick from James Grayson setting Andrew Kellaway up for the first try of the game five minutes in.

After Tom Young was sin-binned for 10 minutes shortly before the break, in between two Grayson penalties to add to Northampton’s tally, the hosts scored their second try with a move straight off the kick-off. Dingwall left Lima Sopoaga in his wake and finished superbly.

Sopoaga did somewhat atone with a penalty on the stroke of half-time to put Wasps on the board, but shortly after the break, Piers Francis went over out wide for Northampton’s third try after being set up by Taqele Naiyaravoro.

Wasps refused to cave in and hit back through Young 10 minutes after the break with the help of a lineout drive.

However, Northampton ultimately proved too strong. Naiyaravoro grabbed a try of his own after a superb burst, bringing up the bonus point in the 55th minute.

It was left to Ollie Sleightholme to put the cherry on top of the cake, and the substitute obliged, running down the right and scoring the hosts’ final try of the game, leaving the last 10 minutes all but redundant.

The closing stages did, however, produce a consolation try from Josh Bassett, who scored in the corner — albeit too little, too late.

The scorers:

For Northampton:
Tries: Kellaway, Dingwall, Francis, Naiyaravoro, Sleightholme
Con: Francis
Pens: Grayson 2, Francis

For Wasps:
Tries: Young, Bassett
Cons: Sopoaga, Searle
Pen: Sopoaga
Yellow card: Young

Northampton: 15 George Furbank, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 James Grayson, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Lewis Ludlam, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Alex Moon, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Ben Franks, 2 James Fish, 1 Alex Waller (c)
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Will Davis, 18 Karl Garside, 19 Api Ratuniyarawa, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Luther Burrell, 23 Ollie Sleightholme

Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Marcus Watson, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Gaby Lovobalavu, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Ashley Johnson (c), 5 James Gaskell, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Tom Cruse, 1 Ben Harris
Replacements: 16 Antonio Harris, 17 Tom West, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Ben Morris, 21 Craig Hampson, 22 Billy Searle, 23 Michael Le Bourgeois

Referee: Matthew O’Grady
Assistant referees: Simon McConnell, Paul Dix
TMO: Trevor Fisher

Saracens 31-25 Sale Sharks
Allianz Park

Saracens survived a mighty scare to see off Sale Sharks 31-25, having led the topsy-turvy encounter 21-13 at half-time.

New signing Robert du Preez put Sale in front with an early penalty and Ben Spencer missed one shortly afterwards. However, the hosts found their feet as the first half progressed.

Mike Rhodes scored the first try of the game in the 20th minute, finishing off from close range after Alex Lewington was tackled just short of the try-line following an attacking scrum.

However, Saracens shot themselves in the foot five minutes later when Will Skelton was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle on du Preez.

Nevertheless, bar the ensuing penalty kick from the fly-half, it was all one-way traffic in favour of the hosts during Skelton’s spell in the bin.

They added to their try tally through Lewington in the 30th minute after a fantastic flick-pass from Nick Tompkins, and then the outside centre himself three minutes later. A grubber from Chris Wyles, who came out of retirement to line up for Sarries, set him up.

Sale did, however, pull one back on the stroke of half-time. Du Preez was the catalyst, with his wide pass allowing Byron McGuigan to finish.

Du Preez maintained his fine form after the break, slotting over four penalty kicks in succession — one of which came after Sale had a try disallowed for a forward pass.

Ultimately, that proved to be costly, as Saracens fought back from 25-21 down. Joel Kpoku was the hero on his Premiership debut for the hosts, forcing his way over for the bonus point try in the 74th minute.

Du Preez tried to level again via a long-range penalty kick, but this time, his effort went just wide. If the result was in any doubt, Spencer sealed it with a penalty of his own — the last kick of the game.

The scorers:

For Saracens:
Tries: Rhodes, Lewington, Tompkins, Kpoku
Cons: Spencer 4
Pens: Spencer
Yellow card: Skelton

For Sale Sharks:
Try: McGuigan
Con: Du Preez
Pens: Du Preez 6

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Wyles, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Max Malins, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Jackson Wray, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Dom Day, 3 Christian Judge, 2 Tom Woolstencroft, 1 Richard Barrington
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Hayden Thompson-Stringer, 18 Hisa Sasagi, 19 Joel Kpoku, 20 Calum Clark, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Tom Whiteley, 23 Marcelo Bosch

Sale Sharks: 15 Sam James, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 James O’Connor, 12 Johnny Leota, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Josh Beaumont, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross (c), 5 James Phillips, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Tom Bristow, 18 Joe Jones, 19 Andrei Ostrikov, 20 Cameron Neild, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Luke James, 23 Arron Reed

Referee: Andrew Jackson
Assistant referees: Tim Wigglesworth, Philip Watters
TMO: Keith Lewis