Saracens outmuscle Gloucester to end losing run

The Prem.

Gloucester (14) 21

Byrne 3 tries: Thomas, Clark, Knight Cons:

Saracens (17) 30

At Kingsholm, Saracens defeated struggling Gloucester 30-21 to put an end to a run of three Prem defeats in a row. Theo McFarland scored twice.

Theo Dan and McFarland both had close-range finishes thanks to Sarries’ strong shooting, but Gloucester came back with two rebounds, one for Freddie Thomas and Arthur Clark.

At the break, only Owen Farrell’s penalty and Ivan van Zyl’s second put the visitors 13 points clear. McFarland’s second and Ivan van Zyl’s score followed.

Will Knight’s last-gasp score was too little, too late for the Cherry and Whites, as a result of a second Farrell penalty extended the lead.

Within the first 20 minutes, Gloucester were already leading after Dan drove low over the line due to injury to outside center Will Butler and Ben Loader.

Tomos Williams, Cherry and Whites captain, revealed to Gloucester on Christmas Day that both the hosts and Gloucester will be missing and that he would make a profit from his participation in the competition.

Second rower Thomas slammed his way over after Sarries’ quick tap-penalty.

After some uncontrollable forward drives, McFarland quickly restored the lead, forcing himself to cross, before Williams once more sparkled with sublime skill just before the break.

Gloucester came back within three points thanks to Ross Byrne’s excellent touchline conversion.

The Saracens forwards, however, increased the intensity with a matchwinning push at the start of the second half despite the wind’s strong influence following the turn.

Farrell jumped above a limping Williams and scored with a perfectly weighted crossfield kick to the right corner after working through 12 phases.

A quick back-of-the-hand offload in the tackle gave Van Zyl a straightforward finish moments later when Jamie George burst from a line-out drive.

Gloucester provided some thrilling moments as they searched for a way out, but the majority of the second half was spent being kept out of the red zone.

After suffering their fourth Prem defeat in five, Saracens had let a significant lead slip away at Exeter, but Farrell’s second penalty put his side three scores clear and out of the view.

Knight finally broke the Sarries’ resistance by showing good footwork and a nice sidestep to the finish in the left corner after the game had been finished and dusted.

Rugby director for Gloucester, George Skivington, stated to BBC Radio Gloucester:

“The game had unquestionable opportunities,” he said. We produced a lot of things that we didn’t take, which was the same as last week’s 45-14 defeat by Leicester.

They used the wind to play a solid game, not too flashy, and came away with a win.

“But yet again, a story similar to last week, even a two-on-one at the end with no one in front of us, which we did not manage to execute,” which is probably a good summary of our situation.

Knowles, Knight, Ford-Robinson, Jordan, Taylor, Austin, Knight, Hathaway, and Knight are the replacements.

Daly, Segun, Cinti, Tompkins, Malins, Farrell, Van Zyl (c), Carre, Dan, Street, Isiekwe, Tizard, McFarland, Onyeama-Christie, Willis, and others.

Replacements: George, Mawi, Tuimauga, Martin Gonzalez, Earl, Bracken, Burke, and Hartley.