Aviva Premiership: Saracens beat Gloucester 17-15
Last Updated: 24/10/15 12:00pm
Owen Farrell kicked a penalty four minutes from time to give Saracens a hard-fought 17-15 win against Gloucester at Kingsholm.
In a close Aviva Premiership contest that could have gone either way on Friday night, Saracens did score the only try of the game through Mike Ellery, while Farrell kicked three penalties and Charlie Hodgson one.
Gloucester had the more creative runners in Charlie Sharples and Jonny May, but had to settle on five penalties from Billy Twelvetrees for their points.
Saracens conceded an early penalty for a high tackle by Farrell on May, but Twelvetrees was well off target with his shot at the posts.
After only seven minutes, the visitors suffered an early blow when Neil de Kock limped off to be replaced by Wigglesworth.
In a dour opening 15 minutes, both sides relied on the boot to gain territory, but with the first attacking movement of the game, Saracens opened the scoring.
From a line-out on the home 22, Nick Tompkins, a late replacement for the injured Tim Streather, made the initial break. The movement was carried on by Farrell before the ball was sent wide for Ellery to score on the overlap.
Hodgson missed the touchline conversion but minutes later was successful with a penalty to give Saracens an 8-0 lead after 21 minutes.
Sarries then lost South African flanker Michael Rhodes, with an injury sustained in a tackle on Matt Kvesic, before Twelvetrees put Gloucester on the scoreboard with a penalty.
Twelvetrees knocked over his second penalty, but one from Farrell nullified this to give the visitors an 11-6 interval lead.
The home side began the second half strongly with bursts from Hook and Sharples taking them into the opposition 22 but the concession of simple penalties prevented them from taking advantage.
When Ellery failed to deal with an up and under from Will Heinz, Gloucester were presented with their best chance to score a try. However they lacked the clinical finish so only secured another three points when Twelvetrees kicked his third penalty, the only score of the third quarter.
When Farrell was penalised for a deliberate off-side to receive a stern warning from the referee, Twelvetrees stepped up to put Gloucester in front for the first time. Farrell soon had a chance to atone for his ill-discipline, but failed with a 40-metre penalty attempt.
With 12 minutes remaining, Gloucester infringed at a line-out and this time, Farrell succeeded with a more difficult kick.
As the tension built, replacement prop, Rhys Gill, conceded a penalty for collapsing allowing Twelvetrees to smash over his fifth penalty from the halfway line but Farrell's late effort saw Sarries home.
