Match Centre: Gallagher Premiership: Gloucester 3-24 Saracens

Gloucester 3-24 Saracens, Kingsholm

Tom Willis starred with a double as Saracens went on to defeat Gloucester 24-3 in the third round of the Gallagher Premiership at Kingsholm on Friday.

This is first win for Saracens in the tournament as they move to the seventh place in the table while Gloucester are at third position after losing their first match.

The victory for Saracens came despite they lost Mako Vunipola and Ivan van Zyl to yellow card in the last 50 minutes of the game.

Gloucester opened their account in the 5th minute when George Barton kicked a penalty goal after Mako Vunipola was penalised at a scrum but Saracens dominated the start of the second quarter with back to back tries.

First it was Willis, who powered his way over in the 24th minute after a maul was pulled down and shortly Alex Lewington pounced on a loose ball and sent a kick ahead which he collected to touchdown. Alex Lozowski kicked both the conversions as the visitors raced to a 3-14 lead in the opening half-hour of the game.

The 33rd minute saw Vunipola sin-binned for a dangerous tackle into the face of George McGuigan but despite that Mark McCall's men did well not to concede a point as the teams completed the opening half separated by 11 points.

Lozowski coughed a long-range penalty chance early in the second half before Willis capitalised on a mistake from Freddie Clarke to crossover. Lozowski landed the conversion as Saracens extended their lead to 3-21.

Gloucester came down hard at Saracens looking to narrow down the gap but firm defence from the visitors kept them away from scoring and instead Lozowski with a 40m kick pushed the lead to 21 points which proved enough despite losing van Zyl to yellow card in the 73rd minute.

Team line up:

Gloucester: Morris, Hearle, Harris, Atkinson, Thorley, Barton, Varney; Ford-Robinson, McGuigan, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Thomas, Tuisue, Ludlow (c), Mercer.

Reserves: Singleton, Elrington, Knight, Jordan, Clement, Chapman, Llewellyn, Hathaway.

Saracens: Goode, Maitland, Lozowski, Tompkins, Lewington, Manu Vunipola, Davies; Mako Vunipola (c), Hadfield, Judge, Hunter-Hill, Tizard, Isiekwe, Christie, Willis.

Reserves: Crean, Mawi, Clarey, Stonham, Knight, Van Zyl, Hartley, Parton.