Saracens go top after last-second win at Bristol

Gallagher Premiership

Bristol (20) 35

Tries: Harding 3, Randall, Fricker Cons: MacGinty 2 Pens: MacGinty 2

Saracens (17) 37

Tries: Knight, Segun, Daly 2 Cons: Lozowski 4 Pens: Lozowski 3

Saracens scored a last-second penalty as they beat Bristol 37-35 to go top of the Premiership.

Alex Lozowski's three-pointer in the 83rd minute ensured a dramatic victory for Sarries in a thrilling encounter at Ashton Gate.

Bristol skipper Fitz Harding had scored a hat-trick for the hosts who were 15 points up early in the second half.

But two tries from Elliot Daly kept last season's beaten finalists in the game before Lozowski - who was recalled to the England squad last week - kicked the winning points to break Bristol's hearts.

The win sees Saracens go two points clear of Bristol who drop to second place after gaining two losing bonus points.

Harding scored after just 106 seconds as Bristol kicked their first penalty to the corner before mauling their skipper over from a five-metre line-out.

AJ MacGinty kicked a penalty for Bristol soon after but saw his side reduced to 14 men when Gabriel Ibitoye was sin-binned for pushing Tobias Elliott.

Having kicked to the corner from the resulting penalty, Toby Knight went over after Sarries won the line-out.

Bristol took just three minutes to get their second as Benjamin Elizalde beat a tackle and put Harry Randall through.

Sarries had Theo Dan held up over the line not long after as an all-action first half continued but they got a second try in the final seconds of Ibitoye's sin-binning as Rotimi Segun sold a superb dummy to skip past Toby Fricker and go over in the left corner.

Fricker - making his first appearance after returning to Bristol earlier this month - had a 34th-minute try ruled out after replays showed he had a foot in touch, but three minutes later Harding went over for his second score after intricate build-up play left the Bears under Saracens' posts.

Bristol started the second half even better than the first as Ibitoye superbly broke from his own 22 before a behind-the-back offload set up the attack that ended with Harding going over.

Saracens had Alex Goode sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on in the build-up to the try and their misery was compounded when Fricker went over after another excellent break to put Bristol 32-17 up.

But straight from the kick-off a Bristol error let in Daly to immediately reduce the gap by seven points with Sarries' third try.

Lozowski added a second penalty soon after to get Saracens within five points, but MacGinty replied with a three-pointer of his own to put Bristol 35-27 up with 20 minutes left.

Daly got a second try late on after a good break by Sarries to get them within a point, and when Bristol infringed at the breakdown in stoppage time Lozowski stepped up to kick the winning points.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We're disappointed, but one thing was there was a lot of quality rugby from both teams - and certainly from our boys.

"I can't fault the effort, but it's pretty clear we left a lot of points out there, a lot of tries we could have scored, opportunities we created and didn't finish.

"I think we got five tries to four, but there was a lot of other tries and points that we didn't take."

Bristol: Lane; Fricker, Bates, Jenkins, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Randall; Genge, Oghre, Lahiff, Caulfield, Batley, Dun, S Grondona, Harding (capt).

Replacements: Thacker, Woolmore, Kloska, Owen, B Grondona, Marmion, Worsley, Elizalde.

Yellow card: Ibitoye (15)

Saracens: Daly; Elliott, Lozowski, Hallett, Segun; Goode, van Zyl; Carre, Dan, Riccioni, Itoje (capt), Tizard, McFarland, Knight, Willis.

Replacements: George, Brantingham, Clarey, Isiekwe, Michelo, Simpson, Tompkins, Jackson.

Yellow card: Goode (43)

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe