Youthful Saints suffer sevens disappointment at the Gardens

Saints suffered disappointment on home soil as their Premiership Rugby 7s bid ended early.
Connor Tupai was in action for SaintsConnor Tupai was in action for Saints
Connor Tupai was in action for Saints

Having lost to both Bristol and Harlequins on Friday, the black, green and gold, who selected an extremely young side, headed into the Plate competition on Saturday.

But they were just edged out by eventual winners Gloucester.

DAY 1

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Saints kicked off their campaign with a defeat to Bristol, going down 26-24 at the death after a topsy-turvy opening clash.

The black, green and gold went behind as Toby Venner scored his first, but a burst down the left wing from Josh Gillespie saw him hold off three defenders and level the scores at 7-7 – Tommy Mathews knocking over the conversion.

Stubborn defence across the park from Saints forced a knock on, but as they were pinged trying to clear their lines, a quick tap-and-go from Bristol allowed Ioan Lloyd to put them back ahead.

Skipper Connor Tupai responded with a score in the left corner, the scrum-half finishing well after Tui Uru’s excellent offload, but Mathews could not add the extras from the touchline making it 14-12 at the break.

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Saints looked to have the game in the bag with two quick scores for Tommy Freeman, who first barged his way over the line after a tap-and-go – Uru again the one to cause Bristol problems with a slick offload.

Mathews' conversion made it 19-14, before Freeman collected his own kick to score a superb solo try.

But two late scores for Bristol through Venner, and one clutch conversion from Lloyd, edged the Bears clear with the clock already in the red.

And things did not get any better for Saints later in the evening, with scores for Dylan Munro, Sam Riley, Lennox Anyanwu, and Jack Kenningham helping Harlequins to a 29-0 win.

DAY 2

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Saints began day two of the competition locking horns with Gloucester for a place in the Plate final and though Gloucester looked like scoring first, a brilliant cover tackle from Gillespie kept things level.

Eventually though it was Gloucester that got the scoring started, as Cory Howells snuck around the corner and over the whitewash.

But Saints hit straight back and Uru raced in untouched from the restart, with Mathews’ conversion putting the hosts ahead.

Gloucester added a second to their tally through Jake Morris just before the break to put them 12-7 up before Morris claimed his second on the restart.

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Saints responded immediately to bring the game within a score as skipper Tupai steamed in from the halfway line and were soon ahead as Freeman collected his own kick to score under the sticks.

The conversion from Mathews gave Saints a narrow lead with three minutes left and a fourth try extended the home lead further; Tom Litchfield broke through with Ollie Newman and Gillespie on his shoulder – the latter scoring in the corner.

Gloucester weren’t done though and scored with just 30 seconds left before Howells scored a second with the clock in the red to see Saints drop out of the competition.