Saracens beat Gloucester to charge towards top four

Gloucester have won just once in their past nine games against Saracens in the Prem [Getty Images]

The Prem

Saracens (18) 30

Tries: Segun 2, Earl, Dan Cons: Burke, Farrell Pens: Burke 2

Gloucester (0) 7

Tries: Joseph 2 Cons: C. Atkinson 2

Saracens continued their surge towards the play-offs with a 30-14 victory over Gloucester to move three points off fourth in the Prem table.

The victory was the London club's fourth in a row in the league and means they leapfrog Bristol into fifth and close in on Exeter above, following their defeat by Harlequins earlier in the day, a result which also drops Gloucester to ninth and out of the Champions Cup places for next season as things stand.

Rotimi Segun scored two first-half tries with Fergus Burke kicking eight points to open an 18-0 lead.

Ben Earl stretched over early in the second half as Theo Dan secured the crucial bonus point try for the hosts, before Will Joseph pulled back two late tries to ensure the scoreboard was more respectable for Gloucester.

It is a remarkable turnaround in form for Mark McCall's side, who looked all-but out of contention for the semi-finals after back-to-back defeats by Bath and Northampton in March left them 12 points adrift of the top four.

But they bounced back to beat Sale, Leicester, Bristol and now the Cherry and Whites in their past four games and with the Bears and Exeter above both dropping points, they are right in the mix with two rounds to go and also head to Sandy Park to play the Chiefs in the final round.

More to follow.

Saracens: Malins; Caluori, Tompkins, Hartley, Segun; Burke, Bracken; Carre, George, Street; Itoje (c), Isiekwe, McFarland, Earl, Willis.