Premiership Rugby Cup: Saracens 26-43 London Irish
- Published
Michael Dykes scored a hat-trick as London Irish beat Saracens to reclaim the lead at the top of their Premiership Rugby Cup pool
Premiership Rugby Cup |
|---|
Saracens (7) 26 |
Tries: Stonham, Moore 2, Reynolds-West Cons: Vunipola, Elliott 2 |
London Irish (38) 43 |
Tries: Gigena, Hitchcock, Basham, Dykes 3, Harmes Cons: Jennings 4 |
London Irish continued their fine Premiership Rugby Cup form with a resounding 43-26 win over Saracens.
The Exiles made it three bonus point wins from three to take over at the top of Pool 3, with Michael Dykes grabbing a hat-trick of tries.
Facundo Gigena, Tom Hitchcock, Josh Basham and Alex Harmes also touched down in the opening half as the visitors led 38-7 at the break.
Saracens did close the gap in the final stages but remain winless.
Saracens had gone top of the Premiership with a home win over Bath on Saturday and so rang the changes for the cup fixture, with a young side given a tough night by the rampant Exiles.
Gigena powered over following a fierce maul and Hitchcock side-stepped inside to add the second try, though Ollie Stonham barged over to reduce the arrears soon after.
Dykes freed Basham to race away to extend the lead before grabbing his first of the night moments later. Hitchcock nipped through and offloaded to Harmes to cross the whitewash out wide.
Sarries lost skipper Manu Vunipola to injury which prompted a reshuffle and allowed Dykes to double his tally.
After the turnaround Francis Moore collected a cross-field kick from Tobias Elliott to reduce the gap but Dykes completed his hat-trick on 48 minutes.
Irish rang the changes and Sarries found a foothold with Elliott again the provider for Moore's second score in the closing stages.
The hosts did have the final say and secured a try bonus point of their own as Charlie Reynolds-West flew in from long distance to complete the scoring.
Saracens: Mcinulty; Moore, Jackson, Elliott, Howe; Manu Vunipola, De Haas; Warren, Lewis, Clarey, Kitchener, Wardell, Nkwocha, Knight, Stonham.
Replacements: Dan, Smith, Bello, Pearce-Paul, Adejimi, Michelow, Bryan, Reynolds-West.
London Irish: Trotter; Harmes, Hitchcock, Jennings, Dykes; Atkins, O'Sullivan; Gigena, Willemse, Hoskins, Scragg, Caulfield, Cooke, Curtis-Haris, Basham.
Replacements: Vajner, Jack, Summerfield, Chapman, Atkins, Powell, Bradbury, Walsh.