1
Wasps send Bristol down, Sarries fight back to stun Saints
By Peter Thompson
Wasps consigned Bristol to an immediate return to the Championship with a 36-21 win at Ashton Gate to move five points clear at the top of the Premiership, while champions Saracens produced a stunning fightback to beat Northampton Saints.
Dai Young's side took another step towards securing a home play-off semi-final and finishing at the summit by confirming sorry Bristol's fate, running in six tries to claim a fifth consecutive Premiership win.
Jason Woodward scooped up a loose ball to run 60 metres for an opening try which Gavin Henson converted to put Bristol 7-0 up, but ruthless Wasps scored 21 unanswered points before the break.
Converted tries from Josh Bassett, Tommy Taylor and Joe Simpson put Young's men in command, with the lively Kurtley Beale a thorn in Bristol's side.
Christian Wade, the leading try-scorer in the Premiership, marked his 100th top-flight appearance with yet another five-pointer before Guy Thompson dotted down and Bassett completed a double.
Jack O'Connell and Nick Fenton-Wells crossed the whitewash for the home side late on, but they are down with two games still to play.
Commiserations to @Bristol_RFC. This is a truly great venue for rugby & they are top hosts. Looking forward to you back in @premrugby asap!
— Wasps (@WaspsRugby) April 16, 2017
Sarries looked set for a first loss in five Premiership games at Franklin's Gardens, but the European champions producing a stunning late rally to snatch a 27-25 victory which struck a blow to Saints' top-six hopes.
Harry Mallinder scored the only try of the first half, while another early in the second from Dylan Hartley – impressive up against his England back-up hooker and British and Irish Lions rival Jamie George – put Saints 20-6 to the good.
Mark McCall's side were 13 points adrift when Ken Pisi added a third try for Northampton, but Chris Ashton came off the bench to dot down and Marcelo Bosch dived over to bring the London club level two minutes from time.
Alex Lozowski held his nerve to add the extras and give Sarries, who rung the changes with a European Champions Cup semi-final with Munster to come next weekend, a win which leaves them just two points behind second-placed Exeter Chiefs.
Watch every game of Aviva Premiership Rugby live on rugbypass.com, home of the best online rugby coverage including news, highlights, previews & reviews, live scores, and more!
Trending on RugbyPass
2
'Chaos': Lawes sheds light on the social that ended 2 England careers
3
Ex-Ireland wing brands Six Nations champs 'not that good'
4
Hacjivah Dayimani exits SA following Springbok snub
5
Latest Comments
Think it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
Go to comments