Saracens get first win against Nottingham, Bristol and Northampton in thriller in Premiership Rugby Cup
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Updated 23/09/2023 at 23:33 GMT
Saracens' slow start to the Premiership Rugby Cup looks a long time ago now after their 73-29 battering of Nottingham at Barnet Copthall. The Premiership side looked a class apart as they mercilessly piled up the points against the Archers. Elsewhere, Bath and Exeter had similarly dominant wins over Championship opposition, London Scottish and Jersey Reds respectively.
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Saracens crushed Championship side Nottingham 73-29 at Barnet Copthall on Saturday afternoon, piling on 10 tries plus a penalty try, to pick up their first win of the Premiership Rugby Cup.
Alex Lewington gave Sarries an early lead when he touched down after seven minutes, and the home side never looked back. Archers winger Ellis Mee added a try for the visitors midway through the first half, but the score was 33-5 at the break.
Saracens were shocked by Coventry in their round-one defeat at Butts Park and lost a tight clash at home to Gloucester last time out, and Nottingham bore the full brunt of their frustrations.
There was no let up in the second period as hooker Tom Woolstencroft burrowed over in the first minute after the resumption.
David Williams scored a quick brace of tries just after the hour mark, but Samson Adejimi crashed over a few minutes later to bring up 71 points for Saracens. Manu Vunipola hit his eighth conversion of the day to bring the final score to 73-29.
Bristol came back to beat Northampton in a sensational 39-38 victory at Ashton Gate. The lead changed hands nine times across a remarkable match, culminating in Gabriel Ibitoye's match-winning try two minutes from time.
The Bears had scored just 12 points across their first two matches in the tournament, losing both, but discovered a dizzying array of attacking talent to upset their fellow Premiership side in Pool D.
Bath continued an excellent day for the Premiership sides against Championship opposition at the Recreation Ground as they cruised to victory against London Scottish, 47-11.
The visitors kept things relatively tight in the first half, trailing 19-6. Bath put the hammer down in the final 20 minutes as they scored at better than a point a minute. The 47-11 victory means Bath bounced back from their defeat to Jersey in the last round with aplomb.
Cup holders Exeter overcame a rough start against Championship winners Jersey Reds. The Chiefs were shocked as Scott van Breda charged over for an early try, but hit back with three of their own to go in 17-10 up at half-time.
It was a procession after the break as the Chiefs mounted 26 unanswered points, before a late Jersey try reduced the arrears and left the full-time score 43-22.
Exeter retained a perfect winning record in Pool C, and are the highes- scoring team in the competition by some margin after racking up 156 points in three games.
Coventry remain unbeaten after seeing off a spirited challenge from Hartpury.
Evan Mitchell scored one try and kicked two conversions in the first half as the visitors worked up a 14-0 lead before half-time. Two more tries shortly after the break ended the clash as a contest, but Hartpury added some late consolation points as the match finished 35-19.
The result leaves Coventry second in Pool A, trailing only the unbeaten Gloucester.
Promoted side Cambridge received a hard lesson at the hands of fellow Championship side Cornish Pirates as they were hammered 64-17. The crushing defeat leaves Cambridge winless in their three matches so far and averaging more than 50 points conceded per match.
It was the Pirates' first win of the tournament, and seemed something of an arm wrestle when the two sides went off at half-time with the hosts only trailing 17-12. But after the break the visitors unleashed, scoring seven tries to Cambridge's solitary effort four minutes from time.
Bedford got their first win of the tournament, eking out a tight 32-24 win over Caldy in another all-Championship clash.
The final match of the afternoon saw Ealing snatch an upset 34-32 win over Doncaster with a Steven Shingler penalty three minutes from time.
The Pool D sides came into the match both undefeated and shared an exciting, see-sawing match that Doncaster seemed to be assuming control over until things turned in the final 15 minutes. Ealing trailed by eight points when captain Rayn Smid crashed over the line. Shingler missed the conversion that would have put the hosts ahead, but made up for it with the decisive penalty 10 minutes later.
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