Another Vunipola red card sours Sarries win
SATURDAY WRAP: Saracens Director of Rugby Mark McCall is anxiously awaiting the verdict from a tribunal against Mako Vunipola, after he was sent off in the final minute of his side’s 37-19 Premiership victory over Newcastle.
England tighthead Vunipola saw red for a headshot to Falcons hooker Bryan Byrne, who was in the process of being tackled by Nick Isiekwe.
It took some of the shine of the result for Sarries, who returned to winning ways after successive defeats and remained fifth in the table.
“On Mako’s red card, we’ll see because he was part of a double tackle,” McCall said.
“He came in second, the primary tackler affected the body height of the ball carrier, so we’ll see what the panel have to say in a couple of days.”
* Meanwhile, Phil Dowson said patience paid off in Northampton’s 21-17 comeback win over Sale as they climbed top of the table.
Saints trailed 0-14 with half an hour to play after tries from Joe Carpenter and Luke Cowan-Dickie appeared to be sending travelling Sharks to the top spot.
But scores from George Furbank, Alex Mitchell and a penalty try 10 minutes from time extended Saints’ winning run to six matches, leaving Dowson delighted with his side’s persistence.
“We did some decent stuff in the second half. We drove the pace and got a bit more of our game on the pitch,” the Northampton Director of Rugby said.
* Harlequins beat struggling Gloucester 32-26 at Twickenham to keep them in firm contention for the play-offs.
A crowd of 75,000 watched Quins score five tries, although injuries to Joe Marler and Dino Lamb took some of the shine off their sixth win in 10 league matches.
Gloucester fell to an eighth successive Premiership defeat, equalling their worst-ever losing run in the competition.
All the Saturday scores and scorers follow below …
Saracens 37-19 Newcastle Falcons
The scorers
For Saracens
Tries: Dan, Van Zyl, Gonzalez, M Vunipola, Penalty try
Cons: Vunipola 2, penalty try does not require a conversion
Pens: Vunipola 2
For Newcastle Falcons
Try: Radwan
Con: Jennings
Pens: Jennings 4
Red card: Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 80)
Yellow card: Callum Chick (Newcastle Falcons, 63)
Teams
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Rotimi Segun, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Olly Hartley, 11 Lucio Cinti, 10 Manu Vunipola, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Andy Christie, 7 Toby Knight, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Hugh Tizard, 4 Theo McFarland, 3 Christian Judge, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Mako Vunipola (captain).
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Tom West, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Billy Vunipola, 22 Gareth Simpson, 23 Tom Parton.
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Tom Penny, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Iwan Stephens, 10 Rory Jennings, 9 Hugh O’Sullivan, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Guy Pepper, 6 Pedro Rubiolo, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 Kiran McDonald, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Phil Brantingham.
Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Tim Cardall, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 James Elliott, 22 Brett Connon, 23 George Wacokecoke.
Referee: Jack Makepeace
Assistant referees: Harry Walbaum, Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Rowan Kitt
Northampton Saints 21-17 Sale Sharks
The scorers
For Northampton Saints
Tries: Furbank, Mitchell, Penalty try
Cons: Smith 2, penalty try does not require a conversion
For Sale Sharks
Tries: Carpenter, Cowan-Dickie
Cons: Ford 2
Pen: Ford
Yellow card: Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks, 70)
Teams
Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank (captain), 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Burger Odendaal, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Chunya Munga, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Sam Matavesi, 1 Alex Waller.
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Alex Moon, 20 Courtney Lawes, 21 Sam Graham, 22 Callum Braley, 23 Tom Litchfield.
Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Sam James, 12 Rob du Preez, 11 Arron Reed, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (captain), 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Luke James, 23 Telusa Veainu.
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Craig Maxwell-Keys, Peter Allen
TMO: David Rose
Harlequins 32-26 Gloucester
The scorers
For Harlequins
Tries: David 2, Dombrandt, Lamb, Care
Cons: Smith 2
Pen: Smith
For Gloucester
Tries: Hastings, McGuigan, May, Penalty try
Cons: Hastings 2, penalty try does not require a conversion
Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Nick David, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Cameron Anderson, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 Will Evans, 6 Dino Lamb, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Will Collier, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Irne Herbst, 20 James Chisholm, 21 Will Porter, 22 Will Edwards, 23 Lennox Anyanwu.
Gloucester: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Lewis Ludlow (captain), 6 Ruan Ackermann, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Jamal Ford-Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Cam Jordan, 20 Jack Clement, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 Max Llewellyn, 23 Jonny May.
Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant referees: Joe James, Mike Hudson
TMO: Stuart Terheege
