FIRST TEAM
SARACENS 39 NEWCASTLE RED BULLS 31
Newcastle Red Bulls’ wait for a Gallagher PREM away win continues after Saracens fought back to seal victory at StoneX Stadium, despite four tries on the road.
The Red Bulls were 17-7 up at the interval but suffered an early blow when Scotland prop Elliot Millar Mills was forced off through injury just four minutes into the game.
His side led just two minutes later when their pressure was rewarded with a Josh Hodge penalty from 30 metres out in front.
Sam Graham’s chip down the tramlines threatened to produce the game’s opening try only for Sarries to scramble back, but there was no stopping Werner Kok ten minutes in when the South African wing hit a super running line to race 40 metres through the heart of the home defence.
Hodge added the extras to take the visitors’ lead to double figures, and his side’s defence stood up to the test in repelling a pair of red-zone penalties as Saracens left the 22 without return.
The Londoners got themselves on the board just after the quarter mark when they kicked a penalty to the right corner, setting up a driving maul from which Jamie George dotted down.
Owen Farrell converted from out wide, but the Red Bulls responded with Gusto and regained their double-digit lead when Sam Graham scored in the left corner following breaks from Kok and Hodge.
Hodge converted majestically from the touchline, and his team’s line-out defence was similarly emphatic when Saracens kicked a penalty to the corner only to have the set-piece stolen.
That left the Red Bulls 17-7 up at half-time, and they almost added to their tally when Alex Hearle was bundled into touch a metre out after collecting an offload from captain Tom Christie.
Sam Graham’s sin-binning left Newcastle a man down for ten minutes having killed a ruck near his own try-line, and Saracens made the extra man count almost instantly when Sione Va’enuku scored from a close-range tap penalty.
Farrell’s attempted conversion bounced back off the post to leave Red Bulls up by five, but the home side led for the first time when Hearle’s sin-binning for a deliberate knock-on left them down to 13 men.
Sarries were ruthless in making it count from a close-range pick and go try for Toby Knight – Farrell adding the simple conversion – and they wrapped up their four-try bonus point when Nick Tompkins exploited numbers to the right for an unconverted try.
The TMO denied Newcastle a share of the lead when Zack Henry was judged to have knocked on near the Saracens try-line, and the blow was compounded when replacement Noah Caluori scored in the right corner for Saracens after simple hands along the line.
Elliot Daly removed all doubt from the result when he was judged to be on-side from a kick to the left corner – Rotimi Segun quickly following up with a try in the same part of the field.
The Red Bulls found some late energy and a third try when Ollie Leatherbarrow ploughed over from close range, and they went away with a well-deserved bonus point when Hearle powered over in the left corner with the very last play.
Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tobias Elliott (Noah Caluori, 49), 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Sione Va’enuku, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Owen Farrell (captain), 9 Tom James (Charlie Bracken, 40); 1 Alex O’Driscoll (Phil Brantingham, 46), 2 Theo Dan (Jamie George, 6), 3 Marcus Street (Alec Clarey, 46), 4 Nick Isiekwe, 5 Hugh Tizard (George Martin, 51) 6 Nathan Michelow, 7 Toby Knight, 8 Alfie Barbeary (Ben Earl, 56)
Scorers - Tries: Jamie George, Sione Va’enuku, Toby Knight, Nick Tompkins, Noah Caluori, Elliot Daly, Rotimi Segun. Conversions: Owen Farrell 2.
Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Will Rigg, 11 Werner Kok (Chris Harris, 34), 10 Brett Connon (Zack Henry, 49), 9 Simón Benítez Cruz (James Elliott, 56); 1 Pouri Rakete-Stones (Tom West, 46), 2 George McGuigan (Samson Adejimi, 56), 3 Elliot Millar Mills (Francisco Moreno, 4), 4 Oscar Usher (Finn Baker, 67), 5 Cam Jordan, 6 Max Hicks, 7 Tom Christie (captain), 8 Sam Graham (Ollie Leatherbarrow, 59).
Scorers - Tries: Werner Kok, Sam Graham, Ollie Leatherbarrow, Alex Hearle. Conversions: Josh Hodge 4. Penalties: Josh Hodge.
Referee: Ian Tempest.
