Saracens recovered from the loss of injured captain Steve Borthwick to move top of the Premiership table with a hard-fought 19-16 win over Gloucester on Sunday.
Gloucester led for much of the match but Schalk Brits scored the decisive try and fly-half Glen Jackson chipped in with 14 points as Saracens, who have now won all four of their matches this season, condemned the visitors to their third consecutive defeat.
The Cherry and Whites had taken a second-minute lead through Rory Lawson's opportunist try and maintained that advantage until Brits barged over in the 67th minute.
Nicky Robinson landed three penalties and a conversion but he missed with an injury-time drop goal that would have earned Gloucester a draw.
Borthwick was forced off after just 13 minutes with a nasty cut to his left eye after an apparent clash with the Gloucester hooker Olivier Azam.
Judging by the pointed words Borthwick fired towards the Gloucester players as he departed, the citing officer may well have something to look at over the next 72 hours.
Sailosi Tagicakibau crossed twice as London Irish climbed to second place in the table with a 28-16 win over Wasps.
The Samoan scored tries either side of half-time to take his tally to five tries from three games.
Fly-half Ryan Lamb contributed 15 points as Irish produced another all-action display to underline their status as the Premiership's great entertainers.
Aided by 11 points from Danny Cipriani, Wasps pulled within one point of the Exiles on 45 minutes, but they eventually fell away and dropped to fourth place in the table.
Copyright 2009 AFP European Edition
