Ford injury a concern for Sharks and England

SATURDAY WRAP: Alex Lozowski’s 22-point haul helped Saracens beat Sale 45-26 after the visitors lost England flyhalf George Ford early on to a quad injury on Saturday.

Ford had kicked Sale into an early lead but was forced off just seven minutes in after attempting a long-range penalty.

The news is an injury scare for England coach Steve Borthwick just over a month away from his side’s first year-end international against New Zealand.

“George just felt his quad when he went for that long-distance kick,” said Sale physio Navdeep Sandhu.

“He thought like he felt he could carry on, but he was just slightly aware of it and I suspected that that meant it would get worse and worse and worse as the game carried on. So we decided to make the change.”

Sale had led 13-12 at half-time after Gus Warr crossed for the only try of the first half.

However, Saracens came storming back with two tries from Elliot Daly plus fine finishes from Tobias Elliott and Jamie George to maintain their perfect start to the new season with two bonus point victories.

Lozowski has taken over kicking duties for Sarries in place of Owen Farrell, who joined French giants Racing 92 in the summer, and he slotted over 22 points from the tee in a superb display.

“It was a proper contest for 50 minutes or so and we were a little bit disappointed with just overall how we were in the first half,” said Saracens boss Mark McCall.

“Our energy was not quite at the levels that we would want it to be at, but we thought that improved significantly in the second half and we were able to build a lot of pressure in the second against a good team.”

* Defending champions Northampton got their first win of the season after withstanding Exeter’s late rally for a 30-24 victory.

Saints appeared to be cruising at 30-10, until England wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso dotted down two converted tries in eight minutes to set up a tense finale.

Alex Coles, Chunya Munga and Rory Hutchinson scored Northampton’s tries, while Fin Smith added 15 points with the boot.

* Leigh Halfpenny celebrated his first English Premiership try as Harlequins picked up a 28-14 bonus-point victory over Newcastle.

The former Wales and Lions Test star raced over for Quins’ third try inside the first 31 minutes as Newcastle fell to a 23rd consecutive Premiership defeat.

* All Saturday’s scores and scorers below …

Harlequins 28-14 Newcastle Falcons

The scorers

For Harlequins
Tries: Jibulu, Evans, Halfpenny, Porter
Cons: Smith 4

For Newcastle Falcons
Tries: Hawkins, Redshaw
Cons: Grayson 2

The teams:

Harlequins: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Nick David, 13 Luke Northmore, 12 Lennox Anyanwu, 11 Cassius Cleaves, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Will Porter, 8 Chandler Cunningham-South, 7 Will Evans, 6 Jack Kenningham, 5 Stephan Lewies (captain), 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Nathan Jibulu, 1 Fin Baxter.
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Irne Herbst, 20 Dino Lamb, 21 Danny Care, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Oscar Beard.

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Connor Doherty, 12 Sammy Arnold, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Tom Gordon, 6 Philip van der Walt, 5 Kiran McDonald, 4 John Hawkins, 3 Richard Palframan, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Adam Brocklebank.
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Luan de Bruin, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Freddie Lockwood, 20 Adam Scott, 21 Joe Davis, 22 Ben Redshaw, 23 Ethan Grayson.

Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Jack Makepeace, Jonathan Healy
TMO: Dean Richards

Saracens 45-26 Sale Sharks

The scorers

For Saracens
Tries: Elliott, Daly 2, George
Cons: Lozowski 2
Pens: Lozowski 6, Daly

For Sale Sharks’
Tries: Warr, Cowan-Dickie, O’Flaherty
Con: R du Preez
Pens: Ford, R du Preez 2

The teams:

Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Andy Onyeama-Christie, 5 Hugh Tizard, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Rhys Carre.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Sam Crean, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Theo McFarland, 21 Toby Knight, 22 Charlie Bracken, 23 Alex Goode.

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Waisea Nayacalevu, 12 Rob du Preez, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (captain), 6 Sam Dugdale, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ben Bamber, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Si McIntyre.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 James Harper, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Rouban Birch, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Sam Bedlow, 23 Will Addison.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
Assistant referees: Hamish Grant, Wayne Falla
TMO: Rowan Kitt

Northampton Saints 30-24 Exeter Chiefs

The scorers

For Northampton Saints
Tries: Coles, Munga, Hutchinson
Cons: Smith 3
Pens: Smith 2
DG: Smit

For Exeter Chiefs
Tries: Woodburn, Feyi-Waboso 2
Cons: Hodge 3
Pen: Hodge

The teams:

Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank (captain), 14 James Ramm, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tommy Freeman, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Tom James, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Josh Kemeny, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Chunya Munga, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Tom West, 18 Luke Green, 19 Angus Scott-Young, 20 Sam Graham, 21 Archie McParland, 22 Toby Thame, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Olly Woodburn, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Sam Maunder, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Richard Capstick, 6 Ethan Roots, 5 Christ Tshiunza, 4 Rusi Tuima, 3 Ehren Painter, 2 Dan Frost, 1 Scott Sio (captain).
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Jack Dunne, 20 Martin Moloney, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Will Rigg.

Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant referees: Mike Hudson, Peter Allan
TMO: Matthew Carley