Leicester and Northampton made it three wins from three while 14-man Newcastle beat Wasps and Gloucester claimed their first win of the season
Saturday 2 October 2021 20:56, UK
A late penalty try saw Leicester claim a win over Saracens , 14-man Newcastle fought back to beat Wasps while Saints and Gloucester also claimed wins in Saturday's Premiership action.
Leicester maintained their lead at the top of the Premiership with a dramatic 13-12 stoppage-time victory over Saracens having been outplayed for most of the match.
Sarries led from the eighth minute and thought they had won when home centre Guy Porter was tackled into touch just after the countdown clock had reached zero.
As Saracens celebrated, referee Christophe Ridley asked for a check on the challenge on Porter by Saracens scrum-half Aled Davies. He ruled that the forward had made the tackle off his feet and awarded Leicester a penalty which they kicked to touch five metres out.
The Tigers drove the line out and were almost at the Saracens line when the maul collapsed and the referee awarded a penalty try. He identified Billy Vunipola as the culprit, showing the No 8 a yellow card.
The visitors looked on in disbelief and Owen Farrell, who had been replaced 12 minutes from time, led the protests, to no avail.
Newcastle survived a controversial second-half sending-off as they came from behind with 14 men to beat Wasps at Kingston Park.
Full-back Tom Penny was shown red in the 49th minute after making contact with Jimmy Gopperth's head in a ruck.
Newcastle led 8-0 at the break through a unconverted Carl Fearns' try and a penalty from Will Haydon-Wood. However Wasps hit back with a converted try from Tom Cruse and momentum swung the way of the visitors after Penny's red card.
Newcastle added a penalty through Brett Connon before Tom Willis went over for Wasps second try and Jacob Umaga's conversion gave them a 14-11 lead with five minutes remaining.
However, with time up on the clock, Callum Chick went over after the Falcons worked there way from deep in their half and Connon's conversion sealed the win.
Northampton survived a strong London Irish fightback to claim their third Premiership win of the 2021 season.
Saints looked to be cruising to victory after racing to a 17-0 lead at the break scoring two tries through Tom Collins and Matt Proctor.
However London Irish hit back in the second half with tries from Agustin Creevy, a penalty try and Tom Parton.
Dan Biggar kicked the winning penalty to make it 23-21 although London Irish did have the chance to snatch the win, only for Paddy Jackson's drop-goal attempt to go wide.
Adam Hastings produced an impressive performance to guide the Cherry and Whites to their first win of the season.
In his first start for Gloucester, the Scotland international set up two tries with cross field kicks and added 16 points with the boot to see off Worcester.
Ben Morgan, Jason Woodward and Chris Harris all scored second-half tries for the visitors, while Worcester scored twice through Kyle Hatherell and Sione Vailan with Owen Williams and Billy Searle adding the extras with the boot.
