Sarries hold off charging Exiles

The Exiles, who remain winless this season, are one of just three Premiership teams to have defeated Saracens at Allianz Park and took a 7-3 lead into the break after a superb try finished by Aseli Tikoirotuma.

Owen Farrell – uncharacteristically wayward from the tee – had struck a penalty for Sarries in the first half and added another one shortly after the break.

Saracens then found the tryline through flank Wray with Tikoirotuma in the bin and it looked ominous for the visitors when Goode crossed on the hour.

Leo Halavatau's converted effort cut the deficit back down to four, but a further two Farrell penalties made the result safe for Sarries.

Ernst Joubert thought he had opened the scoring for Saracens eight minutes in after some excellent work from Mike Ellery, only for referee Greg Garner to pull play back for a line-out as the wing had one foot in touch.

Farrell then opened the scoring for Sarries with a simple kick from just inside the 22-metre line after the Exiles were penalised in the scrum.

But England flyhalf Farrell lacked his usual clinical touch in the first half, as he missed two penalties in a matter of minutes which were well within his range.

Midway through the half Duncan Taylor looked to capitalise on Chris Noakes' poor handling but his clever chip just raced away from the on-rushing Mike Ellery.

Moments later the Exiles took the lead after Tikoirotuma cut an excellent line off Brendan McKibbin and the Fiji international used his power and pace to score his first try for the club.

London Irish went on to show some real resilience in defence, thwarting a spell of heavy Saracens pressure to enter half-time five points to the good.

Saracens spent the first five minutes of the second half camped in the Irish 22 but had to settle for a penalty which Farrell converted with ease.

Tikoirutma was sent to the sin bin in the 50th minute for a high tackle on Chris Ashton, and the home side immediately took advantage of the extra man as Wray crossed the line after a great catch-and-drive from the pack.

Goode raced over soon after as Saracens finally started to turn pressure into points – Farrell adding the extra two.

The visitors reaped the rewards of kicking for touch rather than going for goal when in the 65th minute Halavatau crossed the line to keep his side within touching distance.

But after Saracens warded off a bout of pressure, Irish's discipline cost them and Farrell slotted two further penalties to seal the victory.

The scorers:

For Saracens:

Tries: Wray, Goode

Con: Farrell

Pens: Farrell 4

For London Irish:

Tries: Tikoirotuma, Halavatau

Cons: Noakes, Geraghty

Teams:

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Duncan Taylor, 11 Mike Ellery, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Will Fraser, 6 Jackson Wray, 5 Alistair Hargreaves (captain), 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 2 Jamie George, 1 Rhys Gill.

Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Titi Lamositele, 19 Jim Hamilton, 20 Jacques Burger, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Brad Barritt, 23 Chris Wyles.

London Irish: 15 Topsy Ojo, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Tom Fowlie, 12 Fergus Mulchrone, 11 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 8 Rob McCusker, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 5 Matt Symons, 4 George Skivington (captain), 3 Halani Aulika, 2 David Paice, 1 Tom Smallbone.

Replacements: 16 Gerard Ellis, 17 Tom Court, 18 Leo Halavatau, 19 Eoin Sheriff, 20 David Sisi, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Alex Lewington.

Referee: Greg Garner

Assistant referees: Simon McConnell, Paul Dix

TMO: Trevor Fisher

Bath 28-38 Harlequins

The unerring boot of Nick Evans put Bath to the sword and earned Harlequins just their second Premiership win on the road since January.

Quins travelled to the West Country off the back of a 22-19 defeat at Leicester Tigers last time out, seeking to topple Bath at the Rec for the first time since November 2011.

It was Bath who began the stronger and scored the only try of the first half, through Kyle Eastmond, to hold a narrow advantage at the break.

However, last season's Premiership finalists – who had slipped up at Wasps the previous weekend – came undone in the second half.

Danny Care crossed over put Quins ahead and they never looked back, Evans amassing 28 points in total from the tee while Dave Ward made sure of the result, before Nick Auterac and Semesa Rokoduguni each grabbed late tries for the hosts.

Eastmond thought he had grabbed an early try after pouncing on a loose lineout but referee Matt Carley ruled the ball had been knocked-on by Bath.

Evans then kicked the game's first points after David Wilson went in at the side but, shortly before the quarter-hour mark, George Ford notched a penalty of his own when Nick Easter was guilty of the same offence.

Evans restored the lead five minutes later from in front of the posts before Bath responded again, strong carrying in the loose from props Max Lahiff and Wilson taking them near the Quins line.

Anthony Watson was next to come close, only to knock-on as he dived for the line, but the home side did eventually grab the first try.

Patience prevailed deep inside the Quins half and Ollie Devoto found Eastmond out wide to cross over after 32 minutes, Ford expertly converting from the right touchline.

Much of that hard work was soon undone, however, as a pair of quickfire penalties within kicking range allowed Evans to restore Harlequins' advantage.

But the lead changed hands again shortly before the break, Quins off their feet and Ford bisecting the posts for 13-12 at half time, the tie perfectly poised.

The lead lasted just two second-half minutes, another Evans penalty edging the visitors ahead, and Quins soon grabbed their first try when Care scooped up a loose ball and snipe over.

Evans added the extras to make it 22-13 and slotted another penalty between the posts after 50 minutes to extend the lead even further.

Rokoduguni prevented the task from growing even tougher with a try-saving tackle on Mike Brown but Quins had a penalty advantage from the lineout and Evans made it 28-13.

After 16 unanswered second-half points, Ford stopped the rot with a penalty of his own but once again discipline let Bath down again and Evans responded in kind – his eighth penalty of the afternoon, the most ever from a Harlequins player in a Premiership match.

Tim Visser thought he had struck the killer blow 15 minutes from time, on his competitive Quins debut, only for the TMO to spot a forward pass in the build-up.

A yellow card for Eastmond made Bath's task even tougher and Ward effectively completed the job, collecting Visser's offload to cross over for Evans to convert once more.

There was still time for Bath to battle back, Auterac capitalising from a rumbling maul to score before Rokoduguni darted over, but it will not enough to pinch a losing bonus point.

The scorers:

For Bath:

Tries: Eastmond, Auterac, Rokoduguni

Cons: Ford 2

Pens: Ford 3

For Harlequins:

Tries: Care, Ward

Cons: Evans 2

Pens: Evans 8

Teams:

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Ollie Devoto, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Niko Matawalu, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Guy Mercer, 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Dave Attwood (captain), 4 Dominic Day, 3 David Wilson, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Max Lahiff.

Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Stuart Hooper, 20 Max Northcote-Green, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Tom Homer.

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 George Lowe, 12 Harry Sloan, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care (captain), 8 Nick Easter, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Jack Clifford, 5 Sam Twomey, 4 James Horwill, 4 James Horwill, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler.

Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Charlie Matthews, 20 Luke Wallace, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Ben Botica 23, Ollie Lindsay-Hague.

Referee: Matthew Carly

Assistant referees: Andrew Pearce, Roy Maybank

TMO: David Sainsbury

Gloucester 24-22 Worcester Warriors

Gloucester were made to battle for a narrow 24-22 victory over the Premiership new boys Worcester Warriors at Kingsholm.

Worcester showed their class when they opened their campaign win a victory over Northampton Saints and were close to claiming their second victory in this always close encounter.

But, in the end, Gloucester held on to move into third place in the league, a much-needed confidence boost after last weekend's narrow home loss to Saracens.

Two tries in the first five minutes set the tone for a pulsating encounter at Kingsholm in which no side could ever be sure of the result at any point.

Gloucester put the pressure on from the kick-off, James Hook kicking a penalty deep into Worcester's 22. Field position duly established, forward momentum carried hooker Richard Hibbard across the line after just three minutes, Billy Twelvetrees missing the conversion.

However, within two minutes Worcester had restored parity when a stray Billy Meakes pass was intercepted by Cooper Vuna, who touched down for a try that flyhalf Tom Heathcote neatly converted.

But the hosts were soon back in the game, Willi Heinz thought he'd scored off the back of a Worcester scrum, only for referee Craig Maxwell-Keys to award a penalty that Twelvetrees fired over.

And two minutes later Sione Kalamafoni scored for Gloucester after consultation with the video official, Twelvetrees missing the extras and then adding another penalty to give the Cherry and Whites a double digit advantage.

However, Worcester hit back with ten unanswered points. Ryan Mills's penalty was followed by try from Niall Annett, after the referee had allowed a double throw at the line-out and the Worcester pack drove Gloucester back across their line, Heathcote converting.

Twelvetrees made one penalty and clipped the post with another as an end to end first half concluded with Gloucester 19-17 ahead.

But within nine minutes of the restart, Vuna scored his second in front of Gloucester's vocal Shed, Lamb missed the resulting kick.

England wing Jonny May, settling back into club action after his World Cup campaign, was causing constant headaches for Worcester but the home supporters groaned as handling let down their team on some key occasions.

However, David Halaifonua – who enjoyed a stand-out match – scored Gloucester's third try, Hook missing the conversion as their advantage stayed at a narrow two points.

May then thought he'd eased the tension with darting run and score, only for his effort to be chalked off for a forward pass.

Worcester were reduced to 14 men when Nick Schonert saw yellow and they soaked up the resulting pressure and hit on the counter.

After claiming a turnover, Warriors struck deep into Gloucester territory in search of a winning score, only for replacement Darren Barry to throw a forward pass as the tryline was in sight.

The scorers:

For Gloucester: 

Tries: Hibbard, Kalamafoni, Halaifonua

Pens: Twelvetrees 3

For Worcester Warriors:

Tries: Vuna 2, Annett

Cons: Heathcote 2

Pen: Mills

Teams:

Gloucester: 15 Charlie Sharples, 14 David Halaifonua, 13 Billy Twelvetrees (captain), 12 Bill Meakes, 11 Jonny May, 10 James Hook, 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Sione Kalamafoni, 4 Tom Savage, 3 John Afoa, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paddy McAllister.

Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Paul Doran-Jones, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Jacob Rowan, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Henry Purdy.

Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Tom Biggs, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 Gerrit-Jan van Velze (captain), 7 Marco Mama, 6 Phil Dowson, 5 Tevita Cavubati, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Niall Annett, 1 Na'ama Leleimalefaga.

Replacements: 16 Dan George, 17 Val Rapava Ruskin, 18 Joe Rees, 19 Darren Barry, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Charlie Mulchrone, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Ben Howard.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys

Assistant referees: Tom Foley, Jonathan Healy

TMO: Keith Lewis