Premiership Saturday roundup: Wins for Northampton, Gloucester and Worcester

Saturday's Gallagher Premiership results

• Exeter 22-19 Harlequins
• Sale 16-18 Gloucester
• Saracens 25-27 Northampton
• Worcester 24-16 Leicester

Saints stun Saracens

James Grayson landed a late penalty as Northampton stunned champions Saracens in the Gallagher Premiership opener at Allianz Park.

The Saints earned a shot at goal with 90 seconds remaining and Grayson took his chance, slotting the kick that earned Northampton a 27-25 win, their first at Allianz Park since March 2016.

Saracens had looked set to seal the victory as Ben Spencer kicked six penalties and converted Matt Gallagher's try.

But Northampton and Grayson had the final say, building on some fine first-half work that earned a 21-16-half time lead through tries from David Ribbans, Rory Hutchinson and Henry Taylor.

Spencer had started the scoring for Saracens as he landed a penalty after Northampton had found themselves worryingly wide open early on.

The away side were struggling to get going as their handling errors cost them territory and possession.

That allowed Saracens to turn the screw, with lock Will Skelton leading the way and Spencer kicking the penalties, adding his second of the afternoon on 14 minutes.

Northampton tried to respond but they were lacking a ruthlessness in the Saracens 22.

That was until Ribbans picked up from a ruck and found a way to dot down, Grayson adding the extras to make it 7-6 to the Saints after 25 minutes.

Saracens responded quickly thanks to another Spencer penalty, and they were soon further in front as some Ben Earl brilliance set up full-back Gallagher for the score.

Spencer's conversion made it 16-7, but Northampton bounced back, grabbing the ball in the Saracens half and sending it to Hutchinson, who finished in fine fashion.

Grayson converted to cut the gap to two points and Northampton then stunned Saracens again with a superb breakaway try that involved Grayson and Tom Collins before Taylor finished.

Spencer soon slotted another to put his side 22-21 up and he added yet another effort from the tee, just after Grayson had got Northampton their lead back with a penalty.

Northampton would not go away though, and after flying forwards they won a penalty. Grayson kept his nerve to slot it over and secure a superb win.

Exeter start with win

Last season's beaten Premiership finalist Exeter Chiefs begin league life with a 22-19 victory over Harlequins at Sandy Park.

A first-half try from Jonny Hill plus 17 points from the boot of Joe Simmonds was enough to get last season's beaten finalists over the line.

Harlequins claimed a losing bonus point with a brace of tries from Gabriel Ibitoye while Marcus Smith kicked nine points.

Harlequins had started with far more purpose and Smith put them ahead with a straightforward penalty from right in front of the posts after Exeter were penalised for holding on at the breakdown.

Simmonds levelled the scores on 25 minutes with a successful penalty attempt as the Exeter pack began to gain the ascendancy.

But Harlequins hit back within two minutes as Ibitoye raced into the Exeter 22. The ball was spun from side to side before the visitors were awarded a penalty for offside. And scrum-half Martin Landajo caught the Exeter defence napping as he took a quickly tapped penalty to put Ibitoye over at the far left-hand corner for the opening try.

The Chiefs replied in kind as second-row Hill powered his way over from short range on 32 minutes after a period of sustained pressure from the hosts with Simmonds adding the extras to give Exeter a 10-8 lead.

Harlequins began the second-half strongly and began to apply some pressure on the Exeter line after a well-timed pass from Ibitoye sent Mike Brown through a gap. Brown was eventually brought down but Smith put Harlequins back into the lead with his third penalty after Exeter had transgressed at the breakdown.

But it did not take long for Exeter to retake the lead with Simmonds knocking over a penalty from 35 metres out.

Exeter's forwards now had the upper hand with Harlequins struggling to stop their dynamic ball carriers.

Their physical dominance allowed Simmonds to extend Exeter's lead out to five points with a penalty from right out in front of the posts.

Then Simmonds put Exeter two scores ahead with a penalty from 45 metres out after Harlequins were caught offside.

Harlequins ensured a tense finish as Ibitoye claimed his second try with an acrobatic finish at the corner after a flamboyant offload from Alex Dombrandt.

But it was a case of too little too late for Harlequins.

Gloucester fightback to beat Sale

Gloucester fought back from 13-0 down to open their campaign with a hard-fought 18-16 victory over Sale at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Johan Ackermann's team finished third last season and signalled their potential for further progress with a spirited display.

Sale led 10-0 at the interval through Byron McGuigan's try and Rob du Preez's penalty nine minutes after the restart put them 13-0 up.

Yet Gloucester came back strongly and two tries in seven minutes from centre Mark Atkinson and winger Tom Marshall sent them on the road to a victory which saw Billy Twelvetrees claim eight points with the boot.

Sale went into the game boosted by a run of four straight victories in the Premiership Cup to reach the semi-finals.

Sale led in the 16th minute when prop Akker van der Merwe embarked on a driving run through the heart of the Gloucester defence before producing a deft offload which sent McGuigan under the posts.

Rob du Preez added the conversion to make it 7-0 and then kicked a fine long-range penalty to make it 10-0 in the 30th minute.

Sale's 10-0 interval advantage offered Gloucester encouragement but Rob du Preez booted another penalty in the 49th minute to extend the hosts' lead.

Three minutes later, Gloucester were finally off the mark when Cipriani's clever chipped kick behind the Sale defence found Marshall and he offloaded to Jason Woodward.

Woodard was hauled down just short of Sale's line by Ashton but he managed to offload out of the tackle to Atkinson who burst over from close range.

Twelvetrees added the conversion to make it 13-7 and Gloucester began to move through the gears.

In the 56th minute they scored again when Cipriani's fine long pass found Woodward advancing at pace inside the right channel and his offload sent Marshall racing over in the corner.

But in the 64th minute, Twelvetrees put over a penalty and the visitors led 15-13.

Three minutes later, Rob du Preez kicked a penalty to restore Sale's lead at 16-15 before Twelvetrees booted another three-pointer to put Gloucester back in front at 18-16.

Sale could have snatched victory at the death but Rob du Preez's last-minute penalty rebounded off a post.

Worcester beat Tigers

Tries from Ted Hill and Perry Humphreys helped Worcester to a 24-16 win over Leicester at Sixways.

Duncan Weir weighed in with four penalties and a conversion as Worcester claimed their fifth consecutive win over the Tigers, three in the league and two in the Premiership Cup.

Leicester shaded the forward battle but lacked any penetration behind the scrum and their only try came from Tom Youngs by way of a line-out drive. Tom Hardwick added three penalties and a conversion.

Leicester took an early 3-0 lead but that was short-lived as Warriors created a period of pressure which ended with the powerful Hill bursting through two tackles to score.

Weir missed the conversion before the visitors scored their first try of the afternoon when skipper, Youngs, finished off a driving line-out.

Tigers deservedly led 10-5 at the end of the first quarter Worcester made amends in the 27th minute by scoring their second try when neat handling from Chris Pennell and Cornell Du Preez provided Humphreys with an easy run-in.

Weir knocked over the conversion before he and Hardwick exchanged penalties to leave Worcester 15-13 ahead at the interval.

After the restart, Hardwick kicked another penalty as the standard of the game deteriorated further with a succession of turn-overs and aimless kicking as both sides failed to respect possession.

It was therefore no surprise that Hardwick's penalty was the only score of the third quarter and it took until the 63rd minute for the next score when Weir fired over another penalty awarded for a high tackle by E.W. Viljoen on Pennell.

It was left to Weir to step up and succeed with two late penalties to deprive Tigers of a bonus point.