Saints book semifinal following Gloucester scare, Newcastle stun Sale

WRAP: Northampton Saints booked their semifinal spot with a narrow 36-32 win over Gloucester, whilst Newcastle stunned Sale Sharks with a sensational second-half comeback victory.

In the earlier clash, Saracens saw Harlequins off at Stone X Stadium by 26-12.

Mark McCall marked his last appearance at StoneX Stadium after 15 trophy-laden years as director of rugby with a 24-12 win that lifts Saracens into the top four for the first time since November.

Their fifth successive league triumph was founded on a penalty try and touchdowns from Max Malins, Nick Tompkins and Theo Dan, while departing number eight Tom Willis was a giant in his north London farewell before joining Bordeaux.

But Saracens made the capital derby tenser than it should have been because of a messy third quarter with Tompkins’ 77th-minute strike eventually killing off Quins, who crossed through Bryn Bradley and Cameron Anderson in a strong finish.

McCall’s men now head to Exeter next Saturday knowing that beating their play-off rivals would be enough to guarantee entry into the Prem’s knockout phase, with the Chiefs and Bristol also in contention.

As recently as March, McCall said the Prem title had disappeared off the radar in the wake of a chastening 62-15 collapse at Bath, but a first appearance at Twickenham since being crowned English champions in 2023 has drawn a step closer.

Quins’ tenacity took the game to the wire, but early on it was all Saracens, and in the eighth minute they claimed a penalty try forced when their scrum marched forwards with Chandler Cunningham-South shown a yellow card.

The visitors’ line was almost breached twice more, but Quins were hustling to good effect, including when pouncing on opposition mistakes to launch counter-attacks.

Saracens were over again in the 25th minute through Malins, but the try was born out of Willis’ muscular carry that launched a sequence of brilliant offloads with Ben Earl supplying the scoring pass.

There were flashes of danger in Quins’ attack with Marcus Smith tidily directing operations and showing tenacity in the tackle, but they were being outfought in the forwards.

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Too many times their visits to the home 22 ended pointless, including during a promising spell early in the second-half, although Saracens were scrambling well and producing big moments when needed in defence.

Hulking centre Olly Hartley flattened Sean Kerr with an enormous hit that ended his victim’s afternoon, but the life was now being sucked out of the game by the number of errors.

Harlequins were refusing to throw in the towel, and in the 63rd minute, they struck with a line-out break by Will Evans, rounded off by Bradley arriving in support.

Owen Farrell missed a long-range penalty, but the match ended with a flurry of tries, Tompkins going over to end Quins’ fightback before Anderson and Dan exchanged late touchdowns.

Saints survive Gloucester scare

Northampton’s George Furbank scored a 79th-minute try to prevent one of the shocks of the season against Gloucester and guarantee his side a home semifinal in the play-offs in a 36-32 win.

His error-ridden Saints were fortunate winners over a spirited Gloucester, who earned two valuable bonus points, but it could have easily been more.

Northampton’s tries came from George Hendy, Rory Hutchinson, Tommy Freeman, Sam Graham, Furbank and Fin Smith, with Smith adding three conversions.

Deian Gwynne, Ollie Thorley, Seb Atkinson, Max Llewellyn and Ben Loader scored Gloucester’s tries, with Charlie Atkinson converting two and adding a penalty.

Hutchinson led out Northampton for his 200th appearance for the club, but his side made a poor start, conceding five penalties in the opening five minutes with prop Emmanuel Iyogun yellow-carded for persistent team infringements.

Gloucester immediately capitalised when Gwynne was driven over from a close-range line-out, and before Iyogun could return, they conjured up a slick handling move which resulted in an easy run-in for Thorley.

Atkinson converted, and Gloucester had a 12-0 lead at the end of a one-sided first quarter during which Saints were turned over regularly and frequently lost line-outs.

However, with their first real threat, Saints reduced the arrears when Hendy stole possession at a ruck to race 30 metres and score.

That try was the precursor for the hosts to rise from their slumbers to produce a stunning try when they broke from inside their 22 with Furbank making substantial ground before Smith was on hand for an unopposed run-in.

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Gloucester could count themselves unlucky to be behind, but they were not for long, as a clean break from Caolan Englefield set up a try for his captain, Seb Atkinson.

The sixth try of the half duly arrived when Hutchinson was first to the touchdown following a chip through from Smith to celebrate his feat of being the 82nd Saint to reach a double century of appearances.

Smith’s conversion rebounded off a post, so the scores were level at 19-19 at the interval.

Eleven minutes after the restart, Gloucester collected their bonus point when neat play saw Loader cross in the corner, but the response was swift, with Freeman scoring his 16th league try of the season.

Freeman then carelessly knocked on in his own 22, and from the resulting scrum, the home defence was all at sea for Llewellyn to sail through a huge gap.

The topsy-turvy nature of the game continued with a Saints try from replacement Graham before Atkinson kicked a simple penalty to put Gloucester in front, but Furbank had the final say.

Newcastle shock Sale

In the final match on Saturday, Newcastle Red Bulls shocked Sale Sharks with a 45-42 victory over Sale Sharks.

Sale took a 14-point lead through converted tries from Tom Roebuck and Seb Kelly before Newcastle responded through former Crusader Tom Christie.

The visitors responded with scores through Tom O’Flaherty, Joe Carpenter and Alfie Longstaff to enjoy a 35-10 lead at the break, with Amanaki Lelei Mafi scoring for Newcastle in between.

George Ford converted all first-half tries for Sale.

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The Red Bulls came out a different side in the second half and got onto the scoreboard in the 43rd minute through Alex Hearle’s try, converted by Brett Connon.

Freddie Lockwood’s 54th-minute try closed the gap to 11 points before Aaron Reed responded for Sale to make the score 24-42 in favour of the visitors.

The hosts, however, turned up the tempo in the final 20 minutes, with Christie grabbing a brace and Hearle scoring two more tries for his hat-trick, his final try being on fulltime to seal a famous comeback victory.

Saracens 26-12 Harlequins

Scorers

For Saracens:
Tries: Malins, Tompkins, Dan, Penalty try does not require a conversion
Cons: Farrell 2

For Harlequins:
Tries: Bradley, Anderson
Con: Smith

Yellow card: Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins, 7′)

Teams

Saracens: 15 Max Malins, 14 Noah Caluori, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Olly Hartley, 11 Tobias Elliott, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Charlie Bracken, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Nick Isiekwe, 5 Hugh Tizard, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Marcus Street, 2 Jamie George, 1 Eroni Mawi,
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Theo McFarland, 20 Nathan Michelow, 21 Ivan Van Zyl, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Jack Bracken

Harlequins: 15 Jamie Benson, 14 Cameron Anderson, 13 Sean Kerr, 12 Bryn Bradley, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Will Porter, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 Jack Kenningham, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 Elliot Williams, 3 Pedro Delgado, 2 Sam Riley, 1 Will Hobson
Replacements: 16 Jack Musk, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Ollie Streeter, 19 Jonny Green, 20 Seb Driscoll, 21 Will Evans, 22 Stu Townsend, 23 Cassius Cleaves

Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Richard Gordon, Mike Woods
TMO: Dean Richards

Northampton Saints 36-32 Gloucester

Scorers:

For Northampton Saints:
Tries: Hendy, Smith, Hutchinson, Freeman, Graham, Furbank
Cons: Smith 3

For Gloucester:
Tries: Gwynne, Thorley, Atkinson, Loader, Llewellyn
Cons: Atkinson 2
Pen: Atkinson

Yellow card: Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints, 5′)

Teams:

Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank (captain), 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Tom Litchfield, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 George Hendy, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Archie McParland, 8 Callum Chick, 7 Henry Pollock, 6 Tom Pearson, 5 Ed Prowse, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Luke Green, 2 Robbie Smith, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun
Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Sam Graham, 21 Jonny Weimann, 22 Fraser Dingwall, 23 James Ramm

Gloucester: 15 Ben Redshaw, 14 Ollie Thorley, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Seb Atkinson (captain), 11 Ben Loader, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Caolan Englefield, 8 Will Trenholm, 7 Jame Venter, 6 Deian Gwynne, 5 Freddie Thomas, 4 Arthur Clark, 3 Afo Fasogbon, 2 Seb Blake, 1 Ciaran Knight
Replacements: 16 Jack Innard, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Nepo Laulala, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Jack Clement, 21 Mikey Austin, 22 Will Knight, 23 Josiah Edwards-Giraud

Referee: Sara Cox
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley, Wayne Falla
TMO: Hamish Smales

Newcastle Red Bulls 45-42 Sale Sharks

Scorers:

For Newcastle Red Bulls:
Tries: Christie 2, Lelei Mafi, Hearle 3, Lockwood
Cons: Healy 4, Connon

For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Roebuck, Kelly, O’Flaherty, Carpenter, Longstaff, Reed
Cons: Ford 6

Teams:

Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Ethan Grayson, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Sammy Arnold, 11 Harrison Obatoyinbo, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Simón Benítez Cruz, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Tom Christie, 6 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 5 Adam Scott, 4 Jamie Hodgson, 3 Richard Palframan, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Connor Hancock
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Jamie Clark, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Tim Cardall, 20 Freddie Lockwood, 21 James Elliot, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Cammy Hutchison

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom O’Flaherty, 13 Tom Roebuck, 12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11 Arron Reed, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Reuben Logan, 7 Seb Kelly, 6 Sam Dugdale, 5 Ben Bamber, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3 James Harper, 2 Alfie Longstaff, 1 Asher Opoku-Fordjour
Replacements: 16 Wills Austin, 17 Ralph McEachern, 18 Patreece Bell, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Tristian Woodman, 21 Raffi Quirke, 22 Ollie Davies, 23 Joe Bedlow

Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Jamie Parr, Henry Pearson
TMO: Peter Allan