Premiership: Gloucester 23-17 Saracens

Ollie Thorley's try sparked Gloucester's comeback

Gloucester produced a remarkable comeback in the final half hour to beat Saracens at Kingsholm.

Tries from Ollie Thorley and Tom Hudson saw the Cherry and Whites score 20 second-half points to condemn Sarries to just a second defeat of the season.

Saracens dominated the first half but several errors saw them only come away with three Alex Lozowski penalties.

They finally scored through Schalk Brits but needed Ben Spencer's late penalty to secure a losing bonus point.

Brits' try, early in the second period, appeared to be cementing Saracens' position at the top of the table.

But Gloucester rallied to protect their unbeaten home record this season and continue to suggest they could challenge for the Premiership's top four.

The turnaround started with Billy Burns' perfectly weighted chip towards the right wing that was collected by Thorley, who showed good strength to score from five yards out.

Gloucester's second try, a close-range finish from Hudson, proved enough to give the hosts a fifth win of the season.

The match was refereed by former Harlequins scrum-half Karl Dickson, who took charge of his first Premiership game since retiring at the end of last season.

Gloucester coach John Ackermann:

"We are delighted to get over the winning line as we showed a lot of character and fight to win a massive challenge against a great side.

"We were nervous in the first half and we could have attacked better as we weren't fluent and gave away easy penalties.

"We knew their off-load game evolving around Schalk Brits had to be stopped and our one-on-one tackling was much better than in recent weeks.

"However, we don't want to get carried away with one win as we need to be more consistent as we haven't travelled well this season."

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall:

"We are frustrated as we were in control for large parts of the game and when we went 14-6 up I thought the game was ours.

"But we gave away sloppy penalties to give them field positions too easily.

"We should have made them work harder for their two tries, but Gloucester defended superbly and scrambled well in their own 22.

"I was pleased at the way we played in the first half but we didn't get the appropriate reward. Gloucester are a good team who showed a lot of character."

Gloucester: Hudson; Thorley, Twelvetrees, Symons, Trinder; Burns, Heinz (capt); Hohneck, Hibbard, Afoa, Savage, Slater; Clarke, Ludlow, Ackermann.

Replacements: Hanson, Rapava Ruskin, Denman, Thrush, Polledri, Vellacott, Atkinson, Purdy.

Saracens: Goode; Maitland, Tompkins, Barritt (capt), Wyles; Lozowski, Wigglesworth; Barrington, Brits, Figallo, Skelton, Kruis, Clark, Burger, Wray.

Replacements: Tolofua, Thompson-Stringer, Koch, Isiekwe, Conlon, Spencer, Bosch, Earle.

Referee: Karl Dickson.