By saracensfan62
May 17 2026

Six weeks ago, I feel we looked like a spent force. Back-to-back morale-deflating defeats against Northampton at the Spurs stadium and a hammering at the Rec to Bath left us 12 points adrift of the top four, staring at the prospect of a second consecutive season without any semi-final presence or appearance whatsoever. 2023-24 saw us fall short against Northampton in the SF in a thriller at the Gardens, and 2024-25 saw more of a transition season with us having no real top-table presence come the business end of the season. Fast-forward to a balmy May evening at StoneX Stadium (the weather inclement to say the least), and the picture could scarcely look more different.

A mostly composed 30-14 victory over Gloucester gave us our 4^th league win on the spin and a first run of four consecutive Premiership victories all season. This has left us just three points off Exeter Chiefs in fourth place with two games to go. Crucially with the play-off destiny now in their own hands, we can look to build some serious momentum going into the final 2 matches. Harlequins beating Exeter and Bristol losing to Northampton on Friday night (who’s to say they weren’t Newcastle in disguise…) has opened a huge hole for us to take advantage of. I think it’s fair to say that 19 points off our last 4 games has earned us the right to challenge for the top 4.

Gloucester, for their part, arrived with some fragile momentum of their own following back-to-back wins against Sale and Exeter, but found themselves unable to live with the home side's intensity for the best part of an hour, failing to register a single point until the 71st minute. In all fairness their defence was very solid, but as for the attack… looked like their backs had Vaseline on their hands the whole game. There were a lot of injuries in this one, with George Barton, Marcus Street and Seb Blake all having to go off for HIA’s and Val Rapava Ruskin picking up an injury. Even the officials weren’t safe with Adam Leal hurting his Achilles and George Selwood stepping in as a replacement ref.
The Cherry and Whites' late flurry of tries courtesy of Will Joseph gave the scoreline a more respectable look, but the reality was that this match was settled well before the final whistle. Sarries dropped the intensity and looked to cruise to a comfortable win, which we did. It looked almost too comfortable at points, with Owen Farrell throwing in at the lineouts at the end of the game with a 66.6% success rate. Probably higher than Gloucester’s lineout success rate.

Tries from the excellent Roti Segun x2, Ben Earl and one for Theo Dan plus 2 Fergus Burke penalties made the scoreline 30-14 in the end. In short, job done. 5 points needed and 5 taken. It was a fun evening at the StoneX - An SSA presentation of lifetime membership to Alex Goode made the evening that bit more special. My only complaint is the 6.30pm kick off. I didn’t get home until just before midnight. I’d take 5.30, but 6.30 is daft. Now for a short fortnights break until the Harlequins game at the StoneX. Come on you Sarries.

Saracens v Gloucester Rugby Premiership Report

Discussion started by TheSaracens.com , 17/05/2026 13:15

TheSaracens.com
17/05/2026 13:15

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:05:31:20:32:00 by Darraghgirl.

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Sarsen
17/05/2026 15:16

You mean we WON? OK, whose fault was that?

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tpr's headmistress
17/05/2026 15:50

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saracensfan62
17/05/2026 15:57

We won and we won comfortably, but the reality is Quins and Exeter will pose a much larger threat than Gloucester did. We played some lovely rugby and got the job done.

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PaulHerox
17/05/2026 16:12

Quote:

Sarsen
You mean we WON? OK, whose fault was that?

Point taken.

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The Bard
17/05/2026 16:51

Mention for George Selwood who refereed very well when he took over ,interestingly moving their number 6 back for a Fergus penalty as his first move which Adam Leal had failed to do for the previous one!
Theo Dan yellow probably harsh but you could see why it was given.

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PaulHerox
18/05/2026 07:38

Well the bad news is that as of this weekend a Home SemiFinal is off the table!
Good news is Top4 is very much in our hands.

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The Bard
18/05/2026 08:23

No idea what was going on with Tom Willis. Looked like he could barely stand up, but played on one leg despite us changing Ben Earl after the injury happened.
The man is a true warrior, chasing back 50m to make a tackle limping like Douglas Bader!

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saracensfan62
18/05/2026 11:41

He did indeed Bard. Not sure why we didn't sub him off sooner, either moving McFarland to 6 and Earl to 8 or Michelow to 8 straight away. Strange.

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Elephant man
18/05/2026 19:54

Prior to having Owen throwing into the line out following Theo's, in my opinion, incorrect carding , it had occurred to me after we swapped Fergus for Owen that I could not recall ever seeing anyone else in.our 23 taking a place kick. Maybe I'm mistaken, but can anyone suggest who would have kicked if Owen had been unable to do so,

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TommyKentish
18/05/2026 20:26

I wouldn’t be 100% on this but I would’ve thought Malins back when he was coming through as a 10. Possibly Elliott too.

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Sarrov
18/05/2026 20:49

Quote:

TommyKentish
I wouldn’t be 100% on this but I would’ve thought Malins back when he was coming through as a 10. Possibly Elliott too.

Yep, both came through as 10s.

Malins mainly played there for his first couple of seasons in the senior side. Remember him setting up a try for Lewington against Tigers with a brilliant break and pass

Can't recall Tobias playing 10 for the senior side but I remember first hearing of him as a youngster being a fly half/15. May have got some Prem Cup minutes there but doesn't come to mind

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nedrichards
18/05/2026 21:29

[www.gettyimages.ae]

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Elephant man
19/05/2026 18:33

Thanks for the suggestions. I remember Malins as a 10: in fact I think he should have stayed there: but not whether he was even then a main kicker or has kept it up

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OTsarrie
20/05/2026 08:48

Maybe Zoe Harrison could do a Masterclass on place kicking ?

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ICantBelieveItsNotBartyII
20/05/2026 09:40

Max was the main kicker at 10 for the Anglo-Welsh cup campaigns of 2017/18 and 2018/19. Following season he was injured (as was Owen), and Manu Vunipola took the reins for the majority of the year (plus, who remembers the cameo from Damian Willemse?) - then Covid/Relegation, Max's loan to Bristol, and he hasn't scored a point from the tee for us since.

Manu's a factor again for Tobias Elliott who moved up to the academy as a fly half/full back in 2022/23 and kicked from 10 in a couple of prem cup games with Vunipola injured that season.

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Sarrov
20/05/2026 11:42

This may be a complete fabrication, but I have a vague memory of IVZ taking over kicking in a game as well.

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ICantBelieveItsNotBartyII
20/05/2026 18:33

I too have a potentially false memory of IVZ taking and missing a kick.

Gareth Simpson on the other hand does have points from the tee for us.

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