Tom Willis scores two tries as Saracens beat Bristol to bolster claims for an England debut at No 8 in the Six Nations opener against Ireland on February 1; Wales’ Max Llewellyn also scores twice in Gloucester win over Sale, with Leicester victorious against struggling Exeter
Last Updated: 04/01/25 8:23pm
Tom Willis scored twice in Saracens’ win over Bristol to further boost his claims for an England Test debut
Tom Willis surged over for two tries as Saracens dispatched second-placed Bristol Bears in a 35-26 victory in the Gallagher Premiership on Saturday.
Saracens bounced back from their record Premiership defeat at Bath a week earlier by ending the Bears’ 10-match winning run on the road – with Willis at the forefront of their bonus-point victory.
The player of the match demonstrated his power during both tries, with his second – scored on the stroke of half-time – seeing him evade three tacklers in a devastating run down the right wing.
It was a performance that will intensify the clamour for an England debut at No 8 for the Six Nations opener against Ireland on February 1, with the 25-year-old possessing the ball carrying clout currently missing from the back row of Scott Borthwick’s side.
There were also tries for Fergus Burke, who crossed twice, and Lucio Cinti to give Jamie George the win he was seeking on his 300th appearance for the club.
The Bears, who were thrashed 38-0 by Sale a week ago, fought back in the final throes of the match but, on this occasion, had left themselves with too much to do.
After early tries of Willis and Burke, Harry Randall hit back for Bristol from close range just as his side appeared to be running out of ideas.
Saracens suffered a further setback when Maro Itoje was shown a yellow card and sent to the sin bin for the eighth time in 21 games. The Bears continued to press, only to concede consecutive penalties to let the six-time Premiership champions off the hook.
Elliot Daly was successful from the tee from 50 metres out to nudge Saracens 10 points head – the only score while Itoje was in the sin bin – before the home side streaked further clear with Willis’ second score and Cinti’s try to secure the bonus point.
Kalaveti Ravouvou crossed in the 61st minute to give Bristol hope and the fightback continued when Harry Thacker finished a lineout maul, but Burke put the result beyond doubt before Jake Heenan struck late on.
Gloucester 36-20 Sale Sharks
Wales international Max Llewellyn scored two tries as Gloucester emphatically ended Sale Sharks’ recent resurgence.
Llewellyn struck in each half, with Gloucester securing a five-point maximum to keep themselves in play-off contention.
Sale’s hopes of securing a fourth successive Premiership win floundered in an outstanding first-half display by Gloucester that produced tries for Llewellyn, full-back Santi Carreras and wing Josh Hathaway.
Sale trailed 22-3 after 26 minutes and it proved too much for them to claw back despite tries from skipper Ben Curry, hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie and wing Tom Roebuck, with centre Rob du Preez also kicking a penalty and conversion.
Llewellyn’s 60th-minute score and a late Tomos Williams touchdown ultimately saw Gloucester home, with Carreras completing an accomplished performance by landing a penalty and four conversions for a 16-point haul.
Sale suffered a late blow when scrum-half Raffi Quirke was withdrawn as an injury precaution.
Leicester Tigers 28-15 Exeter Chiefs
Leicester battled to a much-needed, yet unconvincing win over struggling Exeter in a dour contest.
The Tigers were the better side in the first half, but the visitors dominated the second period until Will Rigg was sin-binned and can consider themselves unfortunate not to come away with at least a point.
Olly Cracknell, Cameron Henderson, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Ben Youngs scored Leicester’s tries, with Handre Pollard converting all four.
For Exeter, two pieces of magic from Henry Slade created a brace of tries for Tom Wyatt, with Josh Hodge converting one. Slade also added a penalty.
Exeter took an early lead with a fourth-minute penalty from Slade but from their first period of pressure, Leicester responded with a try from Cracknell when the No 8 proved unstoppable from a five-metre scrum.
After 31 minutes, Leicester extended the lead when a half-break from Pollard gave Henderson the chance to crash over under the posts. Pollard converted, but missed with a long-range penalty as his side held a deserved 14-3 lead at the break.
Two minutes after the restart, Exeter scored an excellent try with Slade’s cross-field kick being collected by Wyatt for the wing to race over, while soon after Stu Townsend and Slade neatly combined to provide Wyatt with another walk-in score.
With 15 minutes remaining, Exeter lost replacement Rigg to the sin bin for taking Freddie Steward out in the air and Tigers immediately capitalised with a Hassell-Collins try, while Youngs scored late on to secure a scarcely deserved bonus point.
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