Saturday’s festive Prem Rugby fixtures see Northampton Saints come from behind to win at league leaders Bathtub, with Henry Pollock, Tommy Freeman to the fore; Saracens submit bonus-point success away at Gloucester to return to successful methods; Bristol Bears come from behind to beat Newcastle
Final Up to date: 27/12/25 8:38pm
Henry Pollock (two) and Tommy Freeman (hat-trick) scored tries as Northampton got here from behind to win at Prem leaders Bathtub
Northampton shocked the Prem Rugby champions Bathtub with a devastating show of working rugby that includes a hat-trick of tries by freewheeling England again Tommy Freeman.
The Saints ran in six tries to a few and overtook Bathtub to high the desk going into 2026 because of the 41-21 success.
It was Bathtub’s first residence defeat since shedding to La Rochelle within the European Champions Cup on December 6, 2024 – and they didn’t even handle a shedding bonus-point.
Each groups had made wholesale modifications from final weekend, leaving the house aspect seemingly with a far stronger line-up than their opponents, on paper no less than.
By the point Anthony Belleau had kicked off, Saints had been shunted from third within the desk to fourth, following Saracens’ win at Gloucester.
However the guests couldn’t have began or completed extra purposefully, with flanker Henry Pollock additionally starring with two tries.
Saracens safe bonus-point victory at Gloucester
Saracens ended a run of three successive Prem Rugby defeats by beating Gloucester 30-21 in bonus-point style at Kingsholm.
Flanker Theo McFarland impressed a primary Prem win since mid-October by scoring two of his group’s 4 tries.
Hooker Theo Dan and scrum-half Ivan van Zyl additionally crossed, whereas fly-half Owen Farrell kicked two penalties and two conversions to maintain Saracens within the play-off image.
Gloucester had their moments – notably by first-half touchdowns for locks Freddie Thomas and Arthur Clark, plus a late Will Knight strive – with Ross Byrne changing all three scores, however they finally slipped to a seventh loss from eight league begins this time period.
Bristol Bears stage fightback win to see off Newcastle problem
Bristol overcame a 10-point deficit and a late purple card for lock Joe Batley to seal a 36-27 win over a spirited Newcastle at Ashton Gate.
The Crimson Bulls had threatened to trigger an upset once they led 27-17 early within the second half, however the introduction of Ellis Genge amongst others turned the sport the hosts’ approach.
Bristol scored six tries, two from Louis Rees-Zammit with Matias Moroni, Gabriel Oghre, Noah Heward and Kaveti Ravouvou additionally on the rating sheet. Tom Jordan added two conversions and James Williams one.
Newcastle secured their first league level of the season with 4 tries of their very own. Oli Spencer scored two of them, Murray McCallum and Ollie Leatherbarrow the others, with Brett Connon kicking a penalty and two conversions.
