
Gloucester Rugby secured a thrilling win against Saracens which put fans at the edge of their seats as they currently sit fourth in the Gallagher Premiership league table.
After Gloucester Rugby’s attack coach, Alex King, noted on his “little bit of frustration” after they “didn’t nail an opportunity to play and beat one of the former big teams (Harlequins)” in their last fixture, they took the opportunity against the Sarries.
Gloucester’s Fraser Balmain was first to secure a try as the prop drove over the try line after a line out on the five-metre mark.
Despite Gloucester’s quick points on the scoreboard, winger Santiago Carreras’s time was soon limited on the pitch as he received a yellow card.
With the visitors one man down, Saracens were pressurising their defence.
Saracens centre, Dom Morris, outsmarted the visitors defence to get himself over the try line for a 7-5 lead with a conversion.
So far this season, Gloucester Rugby have tactically used their forward force and perfected their drive-in mauls.
But the Sarries’ maul led to Saracen’s Rotimi Segun darting in between the Gloucester players for a 14-5 lead on the scoreboard.
The Cherries and Whites still had more to offer as the Saracen’s jumper missed the ball in the line out and Gloucester’s Jordy Reid quickly turned the ball over.
With Jack Singleton there for support, he claimed the second try of the evening on the 31st minute.
Adam Hasting’s conversion put the visitors temporarily two points behind at 14-12.
Unfortunately for the Saracens their penalty give-away lost them the lead as the score went to 14-15.
Saracens then regained the lead as Gloucester’s Charlie Chapman’s kick didn’t go to plan and Saracen’s Theo McFarland got over the line for a 19-15 lead.
As we have seen already this season, Gloucester used their power in the maul to drive against their opponents to score a try.
This was previously recognised before the match where scrum-half Charlie Chapman commented: “We score a lot of tries off of it (the maul) and it just gives us a little bit of security when we need to go to it”.
With Gloucester having found that “security” they needed and Hastings’ conversion, the Cherries and Whites were in the lead at 19-22.
As the game was ending, the fight was still on as Hastings’ penalty kick went directly between the posts.
Saracens Alex Lewington took his opportunity and darted through the visitors’ defence for a 25-24 lead.
The hopes of a one-point lead with the conversion soon deteriorated for the Sarries.
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King stated before the match that the Saracens will “play to their strengths and they squeeze teams over the course of the 80 minutes” but, this wasn’t enough to secure a home victory against Gloucester.
The next time Gloucester Rugby are in action in the Gallagher Premiership is against the Newcastle Falcons at the Kingston Park Stadium.