Saracens edge Leicester as Carreras stars in Prem opener

Saracens opened the Prem season with a 40-38 win away at Leicester on Sunday, despite losing Olly Hartley to injury in the first half and playing part of the second with 14 men after Nick Isiekwe received a 20-minute red card. [1]

Returning director of rugby Brendan Venter had told the squad in pre-season that he wanted Saracens to dominate the league rather than merely compete, BBC Sport reported. After the Leicester match, Ben Earl told BBC Radio 5 Live that the team had worked on handling setbacks and sticking to its approach when things went wrong. [1]

Writing for BBC Sport on 28 September, rugby union reporter Mike Henson suggested Saracens would be hard to stop if Venter could bring together the club’s younger, new and established players. That was his assessment of what might follow, rather than a result settled by the opening win. [1]

Bath also won away from home, at Harlequins, where Santi Carreras produced a striking try. He put his foot into the path of Tyrone Green’s attempted pass to Oscar Beard, chased the deflection, gathered it one-handed and scored. [1]