Saracens return to winning ways, Sale stun Gloucester

Saracens kept the pressure on Exeter Chiefs at the top of the Premiership table courtesy of a 25-17 win over Worcester Warriors at Allianz Park on Saturday.

After their defeat to Exeter Chiefs in their previous match, Saracens were determined to return to winning ways and with this fixture taking place in their own backyard, a backlash was expected against the Warriors, who are in second last place on the table.

The visitors were competitive throughout, however, and were the better side during the opening half and held a deserved 17-11 lead at half-time.

But Sarries took control of proceedings in the second-half thanks largely to a dominant display from their forwards, who set a perfect platform for their backs with Owen Farrell leading the way as the champions’ chief playmaker.

Despite their win, Saracens will not be satisfied with their overall performance as they committed far too many unforced errors although they eventually outscored Worcester by three tries to two with Mako Vunipola, Calum Clark and David Strettle crossing the whitewash for Sarries and Owen Farrell contributed 10 points courtesy of two conversions and two penalties.

For Worcester, Duncan Weir led the way with a 12-point haul thanks to a try, two conversions and a penalty and Ben Te’o also crossed the whitewash.

It was all Worcester Warriors during the opening exchanges and they made full use of their early dominance with Weir and Te’o’s tries during the early part of the half.

Weir converted both tries before Sarries struck back with a penalty from Farrell and a five-pointer off the back of a lineout drive from Vunipola.

The second-half saw the home side stepping up a couple of gears on attack and they were rewarded with tries from Clark and Strettle which secured them the result but despite dominating for long periods during the rest of the half, they could not cross for a fourth try which would have secured them a bonus point and joint first place with Exeter in the standings.

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In Saturday’s other early match, Sale Sharks caused an upset when they claimed a 30-15 bonus-point win over Gloucester at Kingsholm.

Chris Ashton, Faf de Klerk, Rob Webber and Denny Solomona scored Sale’s tries and Robert du Preez slotted two conversions and two penalties. For Gloucester, Jaco Visagie and Matt Banahan crossed the whitewash and Billy Twelvetrees succeeded with a conversion and a penalty.

And in the late fixture, Harlequins proved too strong for Wasps as they claimed a hard-fought 20-13 triumph in Big Game 11 at Twickenham.

Alex Dombrandt and Joe Marchant dotted down for Harlequins and Marcus Smith kicked two penalties and two conversions. For Wasps, Will Stuart scored a try which Lima Sopoaga converted. Sopoaga and Elliot Daly also added a penalty apiece.