Errors dampen Gloucester's attempt to ignite their attacking game in defeat to Saracens
Gloucester's promise of a more swashbuckling style of rugby this season had to wait until the final 10 minutes of an already lost match to Saracens on Saturday, as an error-strewn display saw them go down 35-26 at home to Saracens in Round One of the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership
Saracens may have lost club stalwarts Owen Farrell and Billy and Mako Vunipola in the summer, but they were the same clinical, physical side of old as Andy Onyeama-Christie scored two of their tries and Ivan van Zyl and Tobias Elliott the others, with new fly-half Fergus Burke kicking two conversions and two penalties.
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Freddie Thomas, Freddie Clarke, Jack Clement and Seb Blake scored tries for Gloucester to ensure the hosts picked up a bonus point from the game, with George Barton adding three conversions in a fine individual display at full-back.
Reflecting on the game, Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington said: “I’m disappointed to lose as we knew what Sarries would bring as they are a clinical side. Every ball we dropped they capitalised on and our inability to get on the front foot cost us.
“The positive is that we played with endeavour for the whole 80 minutes and to get a bonus point at the end was pleasing, but we know the Premiership is a relentless league. We dropped a lot of balls in the first half as their line-speed shot us down and their work at the breakdown was outstanding.
“We secured a lot of good positions but gave away some soft penalties to let them off the hook, so losing the opening game is tough to take.”
Val Rapava-Ruskin was a late withdrawal for Gloucester having aggravated a knee injury gain, with Mayco Vivas stepping up from the bench to cause disruption before the game had even kicked off.
The first 15 minutes were largely featureless with neither side able to threaten the try-line as referee Craig Maxwell-Keys awarded seven penalties to prevent any flow to the game. Gloucester full-back Barton enlivened proceedings with a couple of penetrative runs but losing line-outs on their own throw did not help the home side’s cause.
The game sprang into life when Saracens moved the ball along the line for Elliot Daly to chip ahead and the ball bounced favourably for Rotimi Segun to collect and score. Worse was to follow for Gloucester when first Van Zyl intercepted a telegraphed pass from debutant Gareth Anscombe to race 45 metres, before Burke and Daly created space for Elliott to leave Anscombe and Ollie Thorley floundering.
Gloucester badly needed a score before the interval and got one when the exceptional Tomos Williams quickly took a short penalty to dash into the opposition 22. The scrum-half was hauled down just short of the line but the hosts maintained the pressure for Thomas to crash over. Barton’s impressive touchline conversion left his side 17-7 adrift at half-time.
However, Gloucester made a disastrous start to the second half. Ruan Ackermann lost the restart kick for Saracens to build up pressure and Onyeama-Christie finished off an unstoppable forward drive.dynamic maul.
The home side changed their whole front row in an attempt to reverse their fortunes but Saracens responded by bringing on three international forwards in Jamie George, Ben Earl and Nick Isiekwe and it paid dividends with a penalty from Burke extending their lead.
The hosts kept in contention with replacement Clarke scoring with his first touch, but their hopes were short-lived when another pre-planned line-out move put Onyeama-Christie in the clear and the flanker raced away to score his second. Burke missed the conversion but added a simple penalty before Anscombe was replaced by Charlie Atkinson.
Gloucester showed considerable spirit to score tries from Clement and Blake to earn a deserved bonus point but their rally came too late.
Gloucester Rugby: 15 George Barton, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Max Llewellyn, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams; 1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Jack Singleton, 3 Afo Fasogbon, 4 Freddie Thomas, 5 Matias Alemanno, 6 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 8 Zach Mercer
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Jamal Ford-Robinsin, 18 Kirill Gotovtsev, 19 Freddie Clarke, 20 Jack Clement, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 Charlie Atkinson, 23 Seb Atkinson
Saracens: 15. Elliot Daly, 14. Tobias Elliott, 13. Alex Lozowski, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Rotimi Segun, 10. Fergus Burke, 9. Ivan van Zyl, 1. Rhys Carre, 2. Theo Dan, 3. Marco Riccioni, 4. Maro Itoje (c), 5. Hugh Tizard, 6. Andy Onyeama-Christie, 7. Toby Knight, 8. Tom Willis
Replacements: 16. Jamie George, 17. Sam Crean, 18. Alec Clarey, 19. Harry Wilson, 20. Nick Isiekwe, 21. Ben Earl, 22. Charlie Bracken, 23. Alex Goode
Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant Referees: Andrew Jackson and Peter Allan
TMO: Rowan Kitt
Attendance: 11,148