Gallagher Premiership weekend schedule - Friday: Sale Sharks 37-14 London Irish; Saturday: Gloucester 31-28 Bristol Bears, Northampton 32-31 Newcastle Falcons, Saracens 37-31 Bath, Exeter P-P Wasps; Sunday: Harlequins vs Leicester Tigers (3pm).
Saturday 15 October 2022 20:14, UK
Recap Saturday's Gallagher Premiership action as Saracens returned to the top of the table, Northampton edged Newcastle after a nervy finish and Gloucester edged their West Country rivals Bristol.
Saracens returned to the top of the Gallagher Premiership table with a 37-31 win over a spirited Bath at the StoneX Stadium.
Tries from Alex Goode, Max Malins, Elliot Daly and Alex Lewington, combined with accurate goal kicking from Owen Farrell helped the Saracens edge an enthralling back-and-forth encounter.
Bath, who sit bottom of the league, were in the game until the end thanks to scores from Matt Gallagher, Joe Cokanasiga, Max Ojomoh and Wesley White.
The hosts were faster out of the blocks, as Goode found a gap between Cameron Redpath and Ruaridh McConnochie with a smart dummy to run in for the score.
But the visitors responded well when Cokanasiga forced Goode to spill the ball with a well-timed hit, with Gallagher capitalising, hacking the ball forward before juggling it into his arms to go over uncontested.
Bath took a shock lead when Orlando Bailey kicked a penalty, but Farrell levelled after the Saracens were awarded a penalty of their own.
Saracens' captain added another six points courtesy of two penalties near the end of the first half and the hosts started fast again, Malins snatch a lopping pass from Quinn Roux to score a try, but Bath hit back thanks to Cokanasiga.
When D'Arcy Rae was sent to the sin bin, Saracens seemed to take control, scoring two tries but Bath hit back again through Ojomoh and White, setting up some tense final minutes, but the deficit was too much to overcome despite a brave final attack.
Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson feels his side must be more clinical after they nearly let a commanding lead slip late on in a 32-31 succesa over Newcastle Falcons in the Gallagher Premiership.
Saints had appeared to be cruising on two occasions, going 13-0 up in the first half and leading 32-14 at the midpoint of the second half.
Three unanswered Falcons scores cut Saints' lead to just a point with nine minutes to play, but they survived and moved back into the top four after a second consecutive bonus-point victory.
"I'd quite like a game where we're more than a score ahead at the end!" joked Dowson.
"It was frustrating that we had so many opportunities to put that game away, but we didn't.
"We let them come back into it and it becomes a flip of a coin and we'll get turned over at times like we did at Quins and at Sale. We've got to make sure we're better in the last 10 minutes.
"We went in 14-13 down after being dominant in the first half, and we're not efficient enough at converting our pressure into points and we were too easy to score against, conceding way too many points."
Gloucester secured a thrilling 31-28 win over Bristol at Kingsholm thanks to a late penalty from Adam Hastings.
Both sides scored four converted tries as it looked like the fierce West Country rivals would share the spoils but Scotland fly-half Hastings held his nerve from 40 meters, to inflict a third successive Premiership defeat on Bristol.
Gloucester led three times but Bristol hauled themselves level on each occasion, before prop Val Rapava-Ruskin's second try just after the hour mark tied things up after the visitors had gone in front.
Flanker Jordy Reid, Rapava-Ruskin and Freddie Clarke scored in the first-half but Bristol ensured an enthralling encounter through equalising tries from Sam Bedlow, Piers O'Conor and Ellis Genge.
Bristol went ahead for the first time in the match thanks to Andy Uren's try in the 56th minute but the hosts levelled thanks for a converted try.
The match looked like it was going to end all square but Hastings converted a late penalty as Gloucester continued their good start to the season.
