Saracens start season with win at Gloucester

Gallagher Premiership

Gloucester (7) 26

Tries: Thomas, Clarke, Clement, Clarke Cons: Barton (3)

Saracens (17) 35

Tries: Segun, Van Zyl, Elliott, Onyeama-Christie (2) Cons: Burke 2 Pens: Burke 2

Saracens opened their 2024-25 Premiership campaign with an impressive win at Kingsholm.

The visitors ran in five tries in total, with Rotimi Segun, Ivan van Zyl and debutant Tobias Elliott providing first-half scores.

Player of the match Andy Onyeama-Christie scored two tries in the second half following inventive line-outs, with fly-half Fergus Burke adding two conversions and two penalties with the boot on debut.

Tries from Freddie Thomas, Freddie Clarke, Jack Clement and one late on from Seb Blake earned a bonus point for Gloucester, who will need to tighten up defensively if they are going to improve on their ninth-placed finish last term.

Following a scrappy opening 14 minutes, Sarries centre Nick Tompkins managed to find some space down the left-hand side before passing to Segun, who just ran out of room as the visitors began to settle down.

Gloucester failed to heed the warning signs and, two minutes later, Elliot Daly's delicate kick found Segun to take the ball on the bounce to score a picture-book try.

Eight minutes later, Gloucester new boy Gareth Anscombe telegraphed a pass out wide for Van Zyl to pick off and run clear from halfway to score Sarries’ second.

Daly's wonderful vision was key to Sarries' third, when he picked out Elliott on the right wing.

The 21-year-old winger cut inside from the touchline and ran through two challenges to finish expertly for a 17-0 lead.

Gloucester grew into the game, however, and just a couple of minutes after he ought to have scored on the right side, Thomas dived over in the left corner to put the hosts on the board.

Devastating line-outs prove decisive for Sarries

Seven minutes into the second half an accurate line-out from Sarries hooker Theo Dan allowed Onyeama-Christie to steam over the tryline to complete a devastating maul.

Gloucester's number eight Jack Mercer, the pick of the hosts' players on the evening, then turned provider for substitute Clarke to score in the left-hand corner.

Another devastating line-out from Sarries took them out of sight, however, when in almost exactly the same area of the field as their first try, substitute hooker Jamie George sent a fizzing, low pass to scrum-half Van Zyl who, in turn, found Onyeama-Christie to race in.

The move completely caught the hosts' defence cold and underlined the woes which saw them finish last season second-bottom.

In attack, Gloucester still pack a punch though and, after a good move, Clement dived under the sticks.

With four minutes remaining Blake dotted down following a terrific run from Max Llewellyn to reduce the arrears to just nine points and earn Gloucester a try bonus point.

Despite the very late scare, the score somewhat flattered the hosts as Sarries proved their Premiership title credentials in a dominant display on week one.

Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"I think the team played with endeavour. I think they never tried to stop playing rugby but we weren't clinical enough, we dropped a lot of balls in that first half.

"I think ultimately we gave too many easy penalties away, which, combined with a sort of an inability to get on the front foot with our attacking game, cost us."

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"Really happy with, I suppose, you'd call them the really important things, like fighting, and scrapping, and effort, and competing and supporting each other.

"We've got a different team now, we've got a bit of a younger team. We've got some very good athletes in our forward pack in particular and we want to have the game model that reflects their qualities."

On debutant winger Tobias Elliott: "It's a hard old place to make your Premiership debut, to come here in front of the Shed and he took his try superbly well. But he did all the little things you want your winger to do in terms of how he was defensively, how he dealt in the air - he got a few balls back."

Gloucester: Barton; Wade, Harris, Llewellyn, Thorley; Anscombe, Williams; Vivas, Singleton, Fasogbon, Thomas, Alemanno, Ackermann, Ludlow, Mercer

Replacements: Blake, Ford-Robinson, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Clement, Englefield, C Atkinson, S Atkinson

Saracens: Daly; Elliott, Lozowski, Tompkins, Segun; Burke, Van Zyl; Carre, Dan, Riccioni, Itoje, Tizard, Onyeama-Christie, Knight, Willis

Replacements: George, Crean, Clarey, Wilson, Isiekwe, Earl, Bracken, Goode.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys