Saints go top, Noah Caluori scores four for Saracens

SATURDAY WRAP: Northampton returned to the summit of the English Prem on Saturday with a 43-29 bonus-point win against Sale as Saracens demolished Newcastle 73-14.

Bath had regained top spot by beating local rivals Gloucester 30-26 on Friday, but Saints made sure their stay was brief.

Phil Dowson’s men outscored their hosts by seven tries to four, touching down through Tommy Freeman, Rory Hutchinson, Robbie Smith, Edoardo Todaro, Josh Kemeny, Alex Coles and Henry Pollock.

Victory means the 2024 champions have 43 points after 10 games – two clear of second-placed Bath.

Sale, who suffered a club-record 7-77 defeat at Toulouse last week in the Champions Cup, showed impressive resilience to fight back after going 0-14 down early on.

But Northampton showed their mettle to win at Sale for the first time since 2017.

“Sale are a very good side, so we knew it was going to be nip and tuck, and it was a mad game with the wind which made it pretty chaotic,” said Northampton Director of Rugby Dowson.

“I thought we stuck to our guns enough to get the win in the last 10 minutes.”

Third-placed Bristol edged a war of attrition at Exeter 8-3 while Leicester beat Harlequins 34-7.

Saracens ended a turbulent week by overwhelming Newcastle, with Noah Caluori taking star billing at Stone X Stadium.

The day after Saracens announced Director of Rugby Mark McCall would be stepping down after 15 seasons in charge, they scored 11 tries against the Prem’s bottom-placed side.

It was a much-needed tonic after last week’s crushing 3-28 defeat by Glasgow, the most recent setback in a disappointing season in which consistency has proved elusive domestically and in Europe.

“Today [Saturday] was an important day because those five points keep us close enough to the mix,” said McCall. “There’s eight games left so there’s everything left to play for.”

He added his decision to step down at the end of the season was a “big weight off my shoulders”.

“I’ve been sitting on it for a while and now that everybody knows, I feel a bit lighter,” he said.

See below for Saturday’s scores and scorers!

Exeter 3-8 Bristol

The scorers:

For Exeter:
Pen: Slade

For Bristol:
Try: Heward
Pen: Williams

Teams:

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Olly Woodburn, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Will Haydon-Wood, 11 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Charlie Chapman, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Ethan Roots, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (catain), 3 Bachuki Tchumbadze, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 18 Jimmy Roots, 19 Lewis Pearson, 20 Richard Capstick, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Ben Hammersley, 23 Campbell Ridl.

Bristol Bears: 15 Louis Rees-Zammit, 14 Noah Heward, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Fitz Harding (captain), 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Joe Batley, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 3 George Kloska, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Max Lahiff, 18 Jimmy Halliwell, 19 Joe Owen, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 James Williams, 23 Gabriel Ibitoye.

Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Sara Cox, Greg Macdonald
TMO: Craig Maxwell-Keys

Saracens 73-14 Newcastle Red Bulls

The scorers:

For Saracens:
Tries: Penalty Try, Segun, Caluori 4, Onyeama-Christie, Hadfield 2, Mawi, Tompkins
Cons: Farrell 8

For Newcastle Red Bulls:
Tries: Usher, Parsons
Cons: Connon 2

Teams:

Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Noah Caluori, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Owen Farrell (captain), 9 Charlie Bracken, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Andy Onyeama-Christie, 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Hugh Tizard, 4 Nick Isiekwe, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Jamie George, 1 Rhys Carre.
Replacements: 16 James Hadfield, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Tietie Tuimauga, 19 Harry Wilson, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Fergus Burke, 23 Max Malins.

Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Ethan Grayson, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Sammy Arnold, 11 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Simón Benítez Cruz, 8 Freddie Lockwood, 7 Tom Christie, 6 Tom Gordon, 5 Jamie Hodgson, 4 Oscar Usher, 3 Richard Palframan, 2 George McGuigan (captain), 1 Murray McCallum.
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 Finn Baker, 20 Reuben Parsons, 21 James Elliott, 22 Cameron Hutchison, 23 Oli Spencer.

Referee: Joe James
Assistant referees: Luke Pearce, John Meredith
TMO: Dean Richards

Harlequins 7-34 Leicester Tigers:

The scorers:

For Harlequins:
Try: Cunningham-South
Con: Smith

For Leicester:
Tries: Hamer-Webb, Van Poortvliet, Steward, Blamire, Perese
Cons: Searle 3
Pens: Searle

Teams:

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 13 Luke Northmore, 12 Bryn Bradley, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Lucas Friday, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 Jack Kenningham, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 Guido Petti Pagadizábal, 4 Kieran Treadwell, 3 Pedro Delgado, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Simon Kerrod.
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Will Hobson, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Elliot Williams, 20 Seb Driscoll, 21 Tom Lawday, 22 Max Green, 23 Jarrod Evans.

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Gabriel Hamer-Webb, 13 Will Wand, 12 Orlando Bailey, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Billy Searle, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Emeka Ilione, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Ollie Chessum (captain), 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Archie van der Flier, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Joaquin Moro, 20 Olly Cracknell, 21 Ollie Allan, 22 James O’Connor, 23 Izaia Perese.

Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley, Jamie Parr
TMO: Stuart Terheege

Sale 29-43 Northampton

The scorers:

For Sale:
Tries: Quirke, Carpenter, O’Flaherty 2
Cons: Ford 3
Pen: Ford

For Northampton:
Tries: Freeman, Hutchinson, R Smith, Todaro, Kemeny, Coles, Pollock
Cons: Belleau 3, Furbank

Teams:

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom O’Flaherty, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11 Alex Wills, 10 George Ford, 9 Raffi Quirke, 8 Tom Curry, 7 Sam Dugdale, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Ban Bamber, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 James Harper, 2 Nathan Jibulu, 1 Bevan Rodd.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 Patreece Bell, 19 Tom Burrow, 20 Jos Gilmore, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Arron Reed.

Northampton Saints: 15 George Hendy, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Fraser Dingwall (captain), 11 Edoardo Todaro, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Callum Chick, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Josh Kemeny, 5 JJ van der Mescht, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Robbie Smith, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun.
Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Ed Prowse, 20 Tom Lockett, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Archie McParland, 23 George Furbank.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales, Henry Pearson
TMO: Peter Allan