Flyhalf Owen Farrell scored 21 points as Saracens thumped Wasps, while there were also wins for London Irish, Exeter Chiefs, Leicester Tigers and Bath in the English Premiership.
Saracens took an early lead as Farrell slotted the first of two first-half penalties to give his side a slender 6-3 lead at half-time. With the match looking set to be a battle of the kickers, the sides found themselves at 9-9 after 54 minutes.
However, three minutes later Duncan Taylor darted through the Wasps’ defence to score Sarries' first try. Farrell scored three minutes later, and after converting both tries, he all but sealed the victory for Saracens. Wasps scored late in the second half, but to no avail as they missed out on taking any points from the match at Ricoh Arena.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Bath secured a hard-fought 21-14 win over the Worcester Warriors at the Rec. The hosts scored first for an early 7-0 lead, before both sides exchanged scores late in the first half with Bath leading 15-11 at half-time. The second half was tightly contested, with only two Rhys Priestland penalties separating the sides at full-time.
In a thrilling encounter at Twickenham, Gloucester and Harlequins shared the spoils of a 39-39 draw in match fit for the venue. The sides scored five tries each and kickers Greg Laidlaw and Nick Evans each slotted six goal attempts for their sides.
In Saturday’s fixtures, London Irish ground out a 25-23 victory over the Northampton Saints for their first win of the Premiership season. The Exiles dominated much of the first half, scoring two tries to Saints’ one. The hosts held onto a 15-8 lead at half-time. Saints came back strong in the second half scoring twice. The sides exchanged yellow cards in the last quarter, but it was a penalty try that saw the hosts edge out Northampton in the dying minutes
The Exeter Chiefs continued their great run of form this season as they saw off a fight-back from the Sale Sharks to win 33-17 at home. The Chiefs ran in five tries past Sale, two in the first half and three in the second, while the visitors managed two of their own either side of half-time. Being locked at 10-10 at the break, Sale took an early lead in the second half, but the Chiefs hit back with three unanswered tries to secure the bonus-point win.
The Leicester Tigers battled back to secure a 22-10 win over the Newcastle Falcons at home. The Falcons took an early 10-point lead as they dominated Leicester first up, but the hosts hit back with two first-half tries to level the scores at half-time. The Tigers scored early in the second half and then went in search of the bonus-point try, but the Falcons’ defence kept them at bay. The hosts did eventually score their third in the 73rd minute, but ran out of time in search of the fourth.
Round 7 results:
London Irish 25 Northampton Saints 23
Exeter Chiefs 33 Sale Sharks 17
Leicester Tigers 22 Newcastle Falcons 10
Wasps 16 Saracens 26
Bath 21 Worcester Warriors 14
Harlequins 39 Gloucester 39
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
