Barritt stakes England claim

Mark McCall tipped man-of-the-match Brad Barritt for an England re-call in November, after Saracens held firm to beat Gloucester at Allianz Park.

Saracens bounced back after defeat to Bath at the Rec last Friday, moving into second place before the European and international break.

The home side scored three tries through Chris Wyles, Alistair Hargreaves and Chris Ashton to secure victory and Director of McCall felt Barritt staked his claim for the England No.12 jersey after a stellar performance.

"I thought Brad Barritt was outstanding, he was a real pillar out there, he had some real go-forward with the ball and his all-round game was outstanding," he said.

"I would have him on my International team every day of the week. People underestimate Brad, they think he's a one-trick pony, that he can only defend; he defended supremely, but there's much more to his game than that.

"The important thing [from last week] was to understand why you were beaten and why you didn't get the performance that you wanted, not to overreact or underreact and get to the nub of the problem.

"These six games seemed a pretty daunting prospect at the start of September and we know we're not playing exactly the way we want to but five wins out of the six games is great.

"We're pleased with where we are in the league and now we can turn our attention to Europe."

Gloucester, who led 13-3 in the first half only to be pegged back, secured a last-gasp losing bonus point when second row Tom Savage went over with the final play of the game.

And Director of David Humphreys claimed the Cherry and Whites have vastly improved since their opening-day defeat to Northampton Saints, despite their third loss from six this season.

"We've moved a long way in six weeks, we showed we can compete with the top teams," said Humphreys.

"There is some belief within our squad that we can go out and perform at a level which allows us to put a team like Saracens under a lot of pressure.

"Our defence was outstanding. With one minute to go we had not only the energy and enthusiasm to stop Saracens scoring, but also to go the length of the field and score a bonus point-securing try ourselves.

"People talk a lot about character and spirit in any squad – you can coach a lot of things but you can't coach that.

"For us as a management team the last couple of minutes summed up where the squad has moved to over the course of the last few weeks."

* In other Saturday action Newcastle claimed a first Premiership away-day win in just over a year as Juan Socino inspired the Falcons to a crucial basement victory at London Welsh.

* A fine double from Damian Welch was the highlight as a rampant Exeter Chiefs put London Irish to the sword for their fourth Premiership win of the season.

* Sale Sharks left Franklin's Gardens empty-handed after Samu Manoa's hat-trick of tries and the quick feet of Ken Pisi secured a huge Northampton Saints victory.

All Saturday's scorers and scorers!

London Welsh 3-23 Newcastle Falcons

The scorers:

For London Welsh:

Pen: Barkley

For Newcastle Falcons:

Tries: Powell, Wilson, Tipuna

Con: Clegg

Pens: Socino 2

Yellow card: Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, 67)

Teams:

London Welsh: 15 Seb Jewell, 14 Seb Stegmann, 13 Nic Reynolds, 12 Tom May (captain), 11 Nick Scott, 10 Olly Barkley, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Chris Hala'ufia, 7 Richard Thorpe, 6 Pete Browne, 5 James Down, 4 Matt Corker, 3 Taione Vea, 2 Nathan Morris, 1 Pablo Henn

Replacements: 16 Nathan Vella, 17 Shane Cahill, 18 Jack Gilding, 19 Dean Schofield, 20 Ben Pienaar, 21 Rob Lewis, 22 Tristan Roberts, 23 Rhys Crane.

Newcastle: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Sinoti Sinoti, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Adam Powell, 11 Noah Cato, 10 Juan Pablo Socino, 9 Ruki Tupina, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Will Welch (captain), 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Dom Barrow, 4 Calum Green, 3 Scott Wilson, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Kieran Brookes

Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Alex Rogers, 18 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 19 Josh Furno, 20 Richard Mayhew, 21 Mike Blair, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Tom Catterick

Referee: Wayne Barnes

Assistant referees: Stuart Terheege & Nigel Carrick

TMO: Geoff Warren

Exeter Chiefs 44-24 London Irish

For Exeter Chiefs:

Tries: Rimmer, Slade, Welch 2, Armand

Cons: Steenson 5

Pens: Steenson 3

For London Irish:

Tries: Cowan 2, Fenby

Cons: Geraghty 3

Pen: Geraghty

Yellow card: Mark Wilson (London Irish, 62)

Teams:

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Don Armand, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Mitch Lees, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 1 Carl Rimmer.

Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Brett Sturgess, 18 Moray Low, 19 Ryan Caldwell, 20 Kai Horstmann, 21 Haydn Thomas, 22 Ian Whitten, 23 Tom James.

London Irish: 15 Andrew Fenby, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Eamonn Sheridan, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Topsy Ojo, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Scott Steele, 8 Luke Narraway, 7 Tom Guest, 6 Kieran Low, 5 Jebb Sinclair, 4 George Skivington (c), 3 Halani Aulika, 2 David Paice, 1 Tom Court.

Replacements: 16 Jimmy Stevens, 17 Matt Parr, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Dan Leo, 20 Blair Cowan, 21 Tomás O'Leary, 22 Fergus Mulchrone, 23 James Short.

Referee: Ian Tempest

Assistant referees: Peter Huckle and Andrew Pearce

TMO: David Grashoff

Saracens 28-21 Gloucester

The scorers:

For Saracens:

Tries: Wyles, Hargreaves, Ashton

Cons: Hodgson 2

Pens: Hodgson 3

For Gloucester:

Tries: Cook, Savage

Con: Laidlaw

Pens: Laidlaw 3

Yellow card: Nick Wood (Gloucester, 56)

Teams:

Saracens: 15 Ben Ransom, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Chris Wyles, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 David Strettle, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9. Richard Wigglewsorth, 8 Billy Vunipola. 7 Kelly Brown, 6 Ernst Joubert, 5 Alistair Hargreaves (captain), 4 Jim Hamilton, 3 Kieran Longbottom, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Richard Barrington.

Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 James Johnston, 19 George Kruis, 20 Will Fraser, 21 Neil De Kock 22 Marcelo Bosch, 23 Alex Goode.

Gloucester: 15 Rob Cook, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Henry Purdy, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Jonny May, 10 James Hook, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Ben Morgan 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Tom Savage, 3 John Afoa, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Nick Wood.

Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Sila Puafisi, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Mark Atkinson, 23 Billy Meakes.

Referee: Dean Richards

Assistant referees: Ross Campbell and Kelvin Stewart

TMO: Trevor Fisher

Northampton Saints 43-10 Sale Sharks

The scorers:

For Northampton Saints:

Tries: K Pisi, Manoa 3, G Pisi, Fotuali'i

Cons: Myler 4, Wilson

Pen: Myler

For Sale Sharks:

Try: Jennings

Con: Ford

Pen: Cipriani

Teams:

Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Jon Fisher, 6 Tom Wood (captain), 5 James Craig, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Mike Haywood, 1 Alex Waller.

Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Christian Day, 20 Calum Clark, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 James Wilson, 23 George North.

Sale Sharks: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Jonny Leota, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Tom Arscott, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Mark Easter, 7 David Seymour (captain), 6 Magnus Lund, 5 Michael Paterson, 4 Josh Beaumont, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Ross Harrison.

Replacements: 16 Cameron Neild, 17 Alberto de Marchi, 18 Eifion Lewis Roberts, 19 Jonathan Mills, 20 Viliami Fihaki, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Andy Forsyth.

Referee: Andrew Small

Assistant referees: Simon McConnell and Roger Baileff

TMO: Keith Lewis