This one lived up to the hype. Two teams with little time for entertaining the neutrals have made strong claims to being the best in the land by employing a brutal approach. The winner was never going to prevail thanks to an exhilarating gameplan but by successfully shifting an immovable object with unstoppable force.
Saracens edged it, avenging a stoppage-time loss in October with a 34-27 win over Leicester. In sideways rain and bitter cold, Mark McCall’s team sent a strong reminder that a year in the wilderness hadn’t blunted their title credentials.
“We probably deserved it overall,” said McCall. “There was the odd moment where it felt like we could have packed up. The level of commitment we showed in our 22 and the level of fight we had for one another was pretty special.”
It was Leicester who made the first move. A third consecutive lineout maul within sight of Saracens’ line yielded fruit when Nic Dolly rumbled forward before Eli Snyman brushed off two defenders to score.
Saracens needed just one go at their maul to dot down through Tom Woolstencroft with a familiar move. Woolstencroft lobs the ball in, a giant plucks it out of the air, the hooker joins his teammates and keeps his bind before he is dragged over.
The Gloucester coach, George Skivington, praised Louis Rees-Zammit’s strength of character after the Wales win’s brilliant solo try sparked a 35-30 victory over Northampton. Rees-Zammit struck with his first touch of the ball after going on as a second-half substitute, mesmerising the Saints defence and finishing in style as Gloucester recovered from 14 points adrift.
The 21-year-old’s Test career suffered its first setback when he was left out of the Wales team by Wayne Pivac for the Six Nations clash against England last weekend. He has his work cut out to reclaim a starting place when title favourites France arrive in Cardiff next Friday, but Rees-Zammit reminded everyone of his class through a memorable score.
“He is so gifted, and he works really hard to get there. He is special in terms of what he can do,” said Skivington. “He has had a disappointing couple of weeks from his point of view – he wants to prove a point, and we back him. He scored a special try at Newcastle, and now he’s done it at Kingsholm.”
Gloucester also claimed a penalty try and there were touchdowns for Harry Elrington, Tom Seabrook and Santiago Socino, with the fly‑half Adam Hastings kicking four conversions as they kept themselves firmly in the play-off mix.
Declan Kidney is refusing to get carried away after London Irish moved into the top four with a 43-12 win against 14-man Worcester. Agustín Creevy crossed for two of Irish’s seven tries, but a red card to the Warriors winger Duhan van der Merwe in the second half made it a foregone conclusion. London Irish are unbeaten in four matches while Worcester have slipped to the bottom.
Kidney said: “The first half was difficult because Worcester defended so well. We managed to take a few chances but we let them in just before half-time, which showed there was a real game in it.
“The card obviously had a bit to do with it, but we probably had a good patch in that third quarter that allowed us to pull away. We’ll enjoy it today and on Monday we will be knuckling down again.”
Irish were 24-5 ahead when Van der Merwe was sent off for elbowing Kyle Rowe, with Creevy powering over twice and further tries for Lucio Cinti and Juan Martín González. Curtis Rona, Paddy Jackson and Ben White crossed after the Scotland winger’s dismissal, while Noah Heward scored two tries for Warriors. PA Media
That put Leicester on the back foot. George Ford kicked a penalty but Saracens looked like scoring from every visit to the Tigers’ 22.
“They are the best team in the league, I have said it all along,” said the Leicester coach, Steve Borthwick. “Saracens are a quality team. The trophy cabinet shows that.”
Just before the hour mark Aled Davies had the feed to a scrum on the right. Nick Tompkins at first receiver located Alex Goode on the loop. The ball moved at pace to Elliot Daly and then Alex Lewington who slid in the corner.
Kini Murimurivalu’s cynical hit on Lewington on the floor earned him a yellow and after Alex Lozowski converted he shunted over a penalty from the halfway line, giving Saracens 10 points from a single play. A three-point deficit had morphed into a seven-point advantage.
Ford reduced it with a penalty before the break but Snyman made a mess of the restart, coughing possession back to Saracens. Jackson Wray’s strong carry punched a hole and Tompkins’ nimble hands on the blindside found Sean Maitland hugging the touchline. A step inside, a slipped tackle and Saracens had a 22-13 lead at the interval.
It grew after the restart when Leicester botched a quick lineout in their own half. Several phases later Goode played a cute pop off his shoulder against the grain for an onrushing Vincent Koch. The World Cup-winning South African prop cantered over like an outside back.
Leicester needed a response and it came when Dolly kept in contact with a fracturing maul to keep the Tigers in the hunt. They stayed camped in Saracens’ territory and could not find a way through but were offered an opportunity when Davies was shown yellow for a head on head collision with Ford with 20 minutes remaining. Leicester’s frustration showed after an important steal from Billy Vunipola under his own posts. Calum Green was fortunate not to see yellow for a neck roll on the England No 8.
Leicester kept hammering at the door and Ollie Chessum set up a grandstand finish by tunnelling through a sea of bodies to score. Ford’s conversion closed the gap to two points but Saracens would have the final say as Woolstencroft, with his seventh try in five games, added gloss to an impressive display that could well be a dress rehearsal for June’s final at Twickenham.
This article was amended on 7 March 2022. An earlier headline suggested defeat ended an unbeaten record for Leicester, when in fact they have been beaten in three Premiership matches to date this season. To clarify, this match was their first defeat since a 35-26 loss at Sale on 30 January.
