Guinness Premiership - Round 8 Review

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Harlequins' Tom Williams suffered a bloody nose in his first game back after 'Bloodgate' © Getty Images

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Teams Bath | England | Harlequins | Leeds Carnegie | Leicester | London Irish | London Wasps | Newcastle | Northampton | Sale | Saracens | Worcester

Saracens claimed their eighth win in succession with a 22-6 victory over Wasps to cement their lead at the top of the Guinness Premiership.

Dominant in the scrum and fuelled by the confidence gained from beating South Africa on Tuesday night, Saracens sank their old rivals on a raid-sodden Vicarage Road pitch. Saracens were without England captain Steve Borthwick but Test duties hit Wasps worse as they were deprived of Tim Payne, Joe Worsley and Simon Shaw. One man Saracens did have available was their record points scorer Glen Jackson, but they elected to rest him.

Within three minutes that logic was put to the test as Saracens were awarded a kickable penalty and Derick Hougaard's kick rebounded off a post. The reprieve was short-lived, however, as Saracens ran a poor clearance back at pace, Wasps struggled to block all avenues and Hougaard had time to take Kevin Barrett's pass and kick a drop goal.

Wasps responded by camping on the Saracens line and were eventually rewarded with a penalty converted by Dave Walder. Despite the wet and windy conditions, both teams elected to be bold and attempted to force each other onto the back foot.

It was Saracens who made the first breakthrough 11 minutes in. Wasps could not halt a powerful driving maul and hooker Schalk Brits broke clear and scored on the left, Hougaard converting. Wasps reduced the arrears in the 21st minute with another Walder penalty but Hougaard soon responded with a penalty of his own.

The first penalty of the second half went to Wasps but Walder's effort from halfway went wide. Hougaard was no more successful from just inside his own half on 54 minutes and fired another long-range effort wide two minutes later, his third miss from five attempts on goal.

Just when it seemed that considerable Saracens pressure would go unrewarded, Hougaard arrowed home a drop goal to take their lead to 16-6 after 58 minutes. Further pressure saw Wasps concede yet another penalty and this time Hougaard made no mistake in the 63rd minute. Wasps' problems in the scrum were not solved by a rash of substitutions and Hougaard sealed their fate with a penalty on 70 minutes.

London Irish failed to keep the pressure on the leaders as they lost 15-11 to Newcastle at the Madejski Stadium. Last season's finalists failed to produce anything like that form in a disjointed, error-strewn performance. It was the first time in eight attempts the Falcons had beaten the Exiles and, despite failing to register a try, they go back to the north-east with a third straight league win under their belts.

Irish's Tongan No.8 Chris Hala'ufia scored the only try of a poor match but that, and a bonus point, will be of little consolation to head coach Toby Booth. Jimmy Gopperth's fifth penalty, following a high tackle, gave Newcastle a four-point advantage with five minutes left and they held out to cement their new-found position in the top half of the table.

Northampton maintained their unbeaten home record with a 26-17 win over Harlequins in an exciting game which marked the return of Tom Williams for the first time since his 'Bloodgate' ban. Williams, the player at the centre of a fabricated blood injury in last season's Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster, started on the left wing but he made little impression on the game and was withdrawn from the action just before the hour mark. However, he did sustain a bloody nose during the game, the irony of which was not lost on anyone in attendance.

Saints were good value for their win and it was they who opened the scoring after just three minutes of play, Bruce Reihana touching down after beating David Strettle and Chris Robshaw to Jon Clarke's clever chip forward. Myler failed to convert but he added a couple of superbly-struck penalties to help the hosts into an 11-point lead. Nick Evans got Quins off the mark just before the break after Neil Best had been yellow carded for a late tackle on Tom Guest but the visitors failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage and it was Northampton who struck next, through the boot of Myler.

The Saints appeared to be home and dry when Soane Tonga'uiha put Juandre Kruger over in the 58th minute, but Myler again failed to convert and that meant that the door had been left slightly ajar for the visitors. However, even though Josh Drauniniu crossed twice in the closing ten minutes for Quins, the replacement's scores came either side of a try for Tonga'uiha which ultimately decided the game in the home side's favour.

Leicester's Lote Tuqiri knocked on in the final second to hand Gloucester a narrow 12-9 in their clash at Kingsholm on Friday night. In a frantic finale, Tuqiri would surely have won the match for Leicester had he caught a pass from centre Anthony Allen with the Gloucester line exposed and little cover around. However, he passed up the opportunity and in truth defeat would have been hard on Gloucester after their dominance in the second period.

In the end two penalties and two drop goals from fly-half Freddie Burns proved the difference. The win was a boost for the Cherry and Whites, who had been languishing at the wrong end of the table with just two league wins from seven starts.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Sale recorded a 24-17 victory over Leeds at Headingley. Carl Fearns touched down with six minutes remaining to complete a remarkable second-half fightback from Sharks and deny bottom club Leeds a first-ever win over their northern foes.

Leeds have been widely tipped to go straight back down but they are acclimatising to the demands of the Premiership and thoroughly outplayed Sale in the opening period. Two converted tries from Lee Blackett and Scott Barrow gave the Yorkshiremen a deserved 14-3 interval advantage and put them on course for a second successive Premiership victory.

Fly-half Ceiron Thomas added a penalty to extend their lead shortly after the restart but Sale eventually woke up and tries from Ben Cohen and Richard Wigglesworth had them level just before replacement Fearns, 20, claimed the winning score in the 74th minute.

Elsewhere on Friday, a late penalty from Willie Walker gave Worcester a deserved 12-12 draw against Bath at Sixways. The Warriors exerted a lot of early pressure but only had a Walker penalty to show for their efforts while Ryan Davis kicked two for the visitors to give them a narrow half-time lead. And it could have been worse for the hosts had it not been for a try-saving tackle on Bath lock Danny Grewcock by Worcester winger Miles Benjamin and centre Sam Tuitupou.

Walker and Davis traded further penalties in the second period and a yellow card for Tuitupou late in the game looked to have ended Worcester's hopes before the Warriors' No.10 struck with five minutes on the clock to grab a share of the spoils.

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