Gloucester force champions to work hard

at Allianz Park

Saracens missed out on a sixth consecutive bonus point as they stuttered to a 15-7 victory over Gloucester-Hartpury to hand the reins to Harlequins at the top of the Tyrrells Premier 15s.

It took the defending champions half an hour to break Gloucester’s defensive dam, underlining the intent of the West Country side. Sitting in third, Susie Appleby’s side were looking to narrow the gap at the top of the league, where earlier in the day Harlequins

a scare at Loughborough to recover from a 17-0 deficit to win 36-27.

Even without captain Natasha Hunt, Gloucester more than matched the hosts until Hannah Botterman crashed over from a routine driving maul on the half-hour. Marlie Packer followed up with a try of her own.

But Saracens struggled to impose their brand of free-flowing rugby as indiscipline crept in.

The hosts strayed offside twice in quick succession to gift their opponents a scrum five metres out, allowing Erica Mills to squeeze through a sea of bodies, with Lleucu George slotting the extras.

“I said to the players, it’s not one we’ll write about in our memoirs, but it’s an important victory,” said Alex Austerberry, Saracens head coach. “Would I have liked an extra bonus point? Yes. Did we deserve it? No.”

Saracens’ mounting penalty count culminated in Packer being sent to the bin in the second half. “If we’re honest with ourselves, we weren’t disciplined, we didn’t work to our standards and we weren’t energised,” Austerberry said.

A sense of normality was restored for the hosts when Lisa Martin slotted a penalty through the uprights late on, by which time Saracens had nudged the ball back into their rivals’ territory.