MATCH REPORT | Saracens Men 36 - 14 Gloucester Rugby
Saracens returned to StoneX Stadium with aplomb, notching up a bonus-point win against Gloucester on Saturday evening.
The game didn’t get off to an ideal start, with the Cherry and Whites scoring first. After a well-worked set-piece move, the visitors found an edge through Jake Morris. The winger turned on the afterburners before hacking the ball infield to Chris Harris, who collected the kick and slid over for the opening score.
However, the North Londoners didn’t take long to respond. Powerful carries from Ben Earl and Olly Hartley put the Men in Black on the front foot before Rotimi Segun sniped down the blindside with pace to burn, racing clear to get Saracens on the board.
Having missed the conversion, Saracens trailed by two points for the next 15 minutes, with neither side able to impact the scoreboard. But they soon took the lead for the first time thanks to a sublime solo effort from Nick Tompkins. The Welsh centre straightened the line, broke through the defence and spun out of the covering tackle to finish an outstanding individual try under the posts.
Gloucester wrestled the lead back just before the break, after a frantic few minutes saw play swing end-to-end. Handling errors from the hosts put Sarries on the back foot, but a combination of Tobias Elliott and Rotimi Segun made good of the loose ball, pushing play back into the Gloucester half. However, Santi Carreras read a floated pass near halfway, intercepting and running it home to put the visitors ahead at the break.
Saracens emerged from the tunnel with renewed intent and were rewarded early in the second half. After a sharp break from Segun and strong carries from Nick Isiekwe and Eroni Mawi, the hosts earned a penalty in the Gloucester 22 and went straight to the corner. A well-drilled maul proved unstoppable as Theo Dan powered over for Saracens’ third try.
The pressure kept mounting, and the bonus-point score soon followed. A clever kick from Elliot Daly put Gloucester under pressure, and a poor return failed to find touch. Daly struck again, floating a pass wide to Fergus Burke, who made a half-break on the edge. Another penalty in the red zone followed, and it was déjà vu as Saracens mauled their way over once more, with Dan bagging his second of the day.
Just before the hour mark, Saracens had a golden opportunity to extend their lead following a slick quick lineout between Jamie George and Ben Earl. The hooker charged deep into the Gloucester 22, but a knock-on at the next phase brought the promising attack to an end.
Then followed a moment of magic from Argentine replacement Juan Martin Gonzalez. After a contestable kick was gathered by Gloucester inside their own half, the back-rower managed to steal the ball at the breakdown before showing pace out wide and beating two defenders to reach the try line, an impeccable solo score extend the Men in Black's lead.
However the final say would come through Jamie George. The hooker capitalising on loose ball off the line-out to crash into the corner making it six tries on the day for the hosts.
Saracens now head to Sale next weekend before hosting Newcastle Falcons in three weeks time at StoneX Stadium. Tickets are available here for the penultimate home game of the campaign!
