Return of the McCall

MARK McCALL was back on duty and it was business as usual for his Saracens side as they handed league leaders Leicester their third defeat of the season.

In his first game back since a month-long break, director of rugby McCall watched his side win 34-27.

McCall said: ‘Leicester are one of the best teams in the competition at taking opportunities. They had a lot of opportunities but didn’t score that many.’

Leicester are 12 points clear of Saracens at the top of the table but the London side have a game in hand.

Taulupe Faletau warmed up perfectly for Wales’s huge Cardiff battle with France by inspiring Bath to a 29-27 victory over local rivals Bristol.

The skilful No8 grabbed a try in a bonus point win, which lifted them off the bottom of the Premiership table.

Bath coach Neal Hatley said: ‘Taulupe is world class. We are so pleased we have him until the end of the season.’

Louis Rees-Zammit inspired a stunning Gloucester fightback as they kept themselves firmly in the play-off mix by beating Saints 35-30 at Kingsholm.

The recently spurned Wales wing had been on for barely a minute as a second-half substitute when he conjured a magical solo try that underpinned Gloucester’s fightback from 27-14 adrift.

The match was Northampton’s fourth successive league defeat, their worst sequence since December 2020.

Coach Declan Kidney is refusing to get carried away after London Irish moved into the top four of the Premiership with a 43-12 win against Worcester.

Agustin Creevy crossed for two of Irish’s seven tries, but a red card for Warriors’ Scotland wing Duhan van der Merwe in the second half made it a foregone conclusion.

Kidney said: ‘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.’