Premiership: Gloucester 3-24 Saracens - Tom Willis tries lead Sarries to win
- Published
Gloucester had won all five of their Premiership Rugby Cup pool matches and their previous two Premiership games this season
Gallagher Premiership |
|---|
Gloucester: (3) 3 |
Pen: Barton |
Saracens: (14) 24 |
Tries: Willis 2, Lewington Pen: Lozowski Cons: Lozowski 3 |
Saracens finally kicked into gear with a smash-and-grab win at Gloucester.
The Premiership holders chalked up a win after losing their opening two games, with Tom Willis scoring his first two tries for the club.
Defeat at Kingsholm also ended the Cherry and Whites' perfect start to the season, as they suffered from a litany of errors.
Sarries defended heroically and were clinical in attack to wipe away the memory of defeats by Exeter and Bath.
After conceding 11 tries at Exeter in a horrific record defeat on the opening day, Sarries were hit by four more against Bath last week.
They responded like champions with a remarkable try shutout against in-form Gloucester, whose pack began the game like they were going to simply trundle over the shell-shocked visitors.
George Barton kicked the home side ahead after Mako Vunipola was penalised at a scrum, and Zach Mercer dropped the ball over the line as Gloucester piled on the pressure.
That was a turning point, as Willis forced his way over from Sarries' first visit to the other end of the pitch for his first score since his summer move from Bordeaux.
Suddenly it was Gloucester who looked flaky and, when Chris Harris carelessly threw the ball away, Alex Lewington twice hacked it forwards to set up a foot race with Ollie Thorley. The Gloucester man won it but promptly dropped the ball over the line for Lewington to gleefully pounce.
Sarries were down to 14 when Mako Vunipola was sin-binned after his head smashed into the face of George McGuigan, referee Adam Leal accepting the Gloucester hooker had dipped into the tackle slightly.
Gloucester sought to drive home that advantage but their malfunctioning line-out and some astonishing defence on their own line frustrated the Cherry and Whites.
Kirill Gotovtsev thought he had finally cracked it when he forced his way over but Freddie Thomas was penalised for crossing, a neat summary of his team's miserable night.
Sarries ranged forward again and when Freddie Clarke coughed up the ball 10 metres from his own line Willis picked up and raced over for his second try.
Lozowski added a penalty to his three conversions and Sarries were untroubled, even after Ivan van Zyl became their second man in the bin late in the game, after killing the ball on the ground.
Gloucester captain Lewis Ludlow told BBC Radio Gloucester:
"There's some good in there, which we will take from it. That first 25 minutes, the gameplan the coach has put in place was spot on, it's just down to us to be a lot more accurate within that.
"They were very good. They probably had three chances and scored all three of them.
"It's something we can learn from, and I'd much rather that happens at this time of year so we have time to learn from it.
"We were by the line a few times and couldn't get over. That's testament to Sarries' defence, and down to us to be more accurate when we get into scoring areas."
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall:
"We have a lot of faith in this group of players and they've been working really hard on the back of two disappointing performances. Tonight we were outstanding, when we didn't have the ball in particular.
"They had a lot of possession and our defence was wonderful all over the field but particularly near our goalline when we had to scrap and fight. We did that brilliantly across the team.
"There was a really good energy on the field and they felt it and grew all the way through the game. It was fundamental to us winning the game.
"We're just enjoying what we did, especially in the context of what happened down in Exeter two weeks ago. To go from that to this, it's two different teams."
Gloucester: Morris, Hearle, Harris, Atkinson, Thorley, Barton, Varney; Ford-Robinson, McGuigan, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Thomas, Tuisue, Ludlow (c), Mercer.
Replacements: Singleton, Elrington, Knight, Jordan, Clement, Chapman, Llewellyn, Hathaway.
Saracens: Goode, Maitland, Lozowski, Tompkins, Lewington, Manu Vunipola, Davies; Mako Vunipola (c), Hadfield, Judge, Hunter-Hill, Tizard, Isiekwe, Christie, Willis.
Replacements: Crean, Mawi, Clarey, Stonham, Knight, Van Zyl, Hartley, Parton.
Sin-bin: Mako Vunipola, Van Zyl
Referee: Adam Leal