Match Centre: Gloucester 16-19 Saracens

Gloucester Rugby 16-19 Saracens, Kingsholm

Owen Farrell kicked a last minute drop goal as Saracens edged out Gloucester 19-16 in the latest round of the Gallagher Premiership at Kingsholm Stadium on Friday.

This is 11th win for Saracens in 12 games as they have consolidated their position at the top while Gloucester are at fourth place.

Saracens were off to a bright start as Alex Goode created the space for Max Malins to score in the 6th minute but Farrell missed out on the conversion. Gloucester responded back immediately as an Ollie Thorley break saw him race 40m to crossover.

Santiago Carreras kicked the conversion to put them into a 7-5 lead but it was short-lived as Farrell kicked a straightforward three-pointer in the 23rd minute.

The rest of the opening half saw Carreras and Farrell trade penalties as the teams completed the opening half with a 10-11 lead for the visitors.

Carreras helped Gloucester off the block early in the second half as they seized back the lead to 13-11 and shortly Saracens lost Alex Goode to sin-bin for a high tackle on Carreras. Nevertheless, Gloucester fly-half missed the three-pointer in the following minute.

Saracens had nervy moments as Farrell's third kick hit the post and the fourth one drifted wide. They however clawed their way back into the game as Ivan Van Zyl then dummied smartly and was able to step past the final defender to score. Farrell missed out conversion as the scoreline became 13-16.

An obstruction from van Zyl provided Gloucester a chance to level scores with Carreras kicking a penalty goal making it 16-16 by the 72nd minute and that's when Farrell kicked a 40m drop goal to seal a thrilling victory.

Team line up:

Gloucester: Evans, May, Harris, Kveseladze, Thorley, Carreras, Meehan; Rapava Ruskin, McGuigan, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Alemanno, Ackermann, Ludlow (c), Morgan.

Reserves: Blake, Elrington, Knight, Jordan, Clement, Varney, Twelvetrees, Seabrook.

Saracens: Goode, Malins, Lozowski, Taylor, Lewington, Farrell (c), Davies; M Vunipola, George, Riccioni, Itoje, Tizard, Christie, Earl, B Vunipola.

Reserves: Dan, Mawi, Judge, Isiekwe, Wray, Van Zyl, Hallett, Segun