Sunday 10 November 2019 00:25, UK
Saracens won on the road at Gloucester after a week of bad press, league-leaders Northampton lost at bottom-placed Bath and Harlequins slipped up to Worcester in Saturday's Premiership action...
Saracens overcame their troubled week to record a deserved 21-12 win over Gloucester at Kingsholm.
The London club were fined over £5m and deducted 35 points for breaching the salary cap - which is subject to an appeal - but the team seemed unaffected as it was business as usual for the reigning Gallagher Premiership champions.
Nick Tompkins and Ben Earl scored tries for Saracens, with Manu Vunipola adding three penalties and a conversion.
Gloucester's tries came from Tom Marshall and Lewis Ludlow as Billy Twelvetrees added a conversion.
Saracens were greeted with a chorus of boos as they took to the field, with a group of home fans in The Shed waving fake money.
When the game started, the first penalty went against the visitors and the award was met with a loud rendering of, 'Same old Sarries, always cheating', which persisted throughout.
The players on the park had enough to clinch victory, however.
Bath shrugged off the dismissal of wing Aled Brew early in the second half to topple the Premiership's early pacesetters with a powerful scrummaging display in a 22-13 win over Northampton.
The Saints had threatened to overrun the home side early on but Bath led at half-time with an opportunist Will Chudley try, converted by Rhys Priestland who then added a penalty.
After the break, prop Will Stuart capped a high-quality performance at tighthead with a catch-and-drive try and No 8 Zach Mercer added a third from yet another dominant scrum.
The visitors could not have had a better start, being gifted a try after just 64 seconds. Priestland hesitated getting his clearance kick away and James Grayson's charge-down left Scotland centre Rory Hutchinson with a simple hack-on to score. From then, they failed to make their advantage count, however.
Jamie Shillcock's second-half try powered Worcester to a 19-14 win over Harlequins at The Stoop, securing their second league win of the Gallagher Premiership season.
Scores from Alex Dombrandt and James Chisholm gave Harlequins a healthy early advantage, but three penalties from Jono Lance kept Worcester in the game with 40 to play.
And while both sides struggled to gain control of the match in testing second-half conditions, Shillcock made the breakthrough late on to hand the visitors the win.
The result sees Worcester win on the road for just the second time in 14 months, while Quins' stuttering start to the campaign continues with their first home defeat since April.
