Saints' home winning streak over as Gloucester defeat hits title defence

The black, green and gold were beaten 25-17 by Gloucester, who avenged their 90-0 May evisceration at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

The Cherry and Whites had flown into a 22-7 half-time lead, with Saints losing both Fin Smith and George Hendy to head injury assessments during the first period.

And though Phil Dowson's men, led by the returning Alex Mitchell, who came on for his first appearance of the season, picked up the tempo after the break, Gloucester held on.

Santiago Carreras racked up 20 points on the day, including two tries and the late penalty that put Saints out of losing bonus point range.

Rory Hutchinson did have the chance to salvage that point but his penalty with the final kick of the game drifted just wide of the right post.

And so Saints, who had won their previous 13 home Premiership matches, were left with nothing to show for their efforts as they suffered their fourth defeat in seven league games this season.

It leaves them with a mountain to climb in the play-off race ahead of their venture into the Investec Champions Cup next weekend, when Castres come to the Gardens.

Saints knew they would face a fired-up Gloucester side on the return to Premiership action, and so it proved early on during Saturday's encounter.

Gloucester made a flying start to the match, offloading for fun before sending Argentina full-back Carreras over in the left corner.

Carreras hit the post with the touchline conversion and Saints lost Smith to a head injury assessment to make it a nightmare start for the hosts.

However, George Furbank soon gave Saints a welcome shot in the arm as he kicked ahead and gathered before stretching out to score.

Hutchinson converted in Smith's absence and Saints led 7-5.

But Gloucester were bossing the territory and possession battle as the clock ticked towards 20, with George Hendy having to make a huge tackle to stop the away side scoring out wide.

Gloucester lost Ollie Thorley to injury, while it was confirmed that Smith wouldn't be returning for Saints, meaning both teams had to make permanent early changes.

But Gloucester were pushing on in determined fashion and Hendy soon had to make another huge try-saving hit as the Cherry and Whites broke away in flying fashion.

Ironically, after all of the away pressure, their second try was to come from an intercept as Freddie Thomas gathered Tom James' pass and raced forward before finding Zach Mercer on the inside, allowing the No.8 to score.

Carreras converted and Gloucester held a 12-7 lead that their start to the match had merited.

It was only going to get worse for Saints, who continued to struggle to produce any sort of attacking fluency.

Gloucester soon pounced again as Christian Wade raced around Ollie Sleightholme on the right before giving the ball to Carreras, who sauntered in for his second try of the game.

Carreras easily converted from in front of the posts and Saints were in all sorts of trouble, having barely landed a shot on their opponents.

Minds were boggled in black, green and gold, with James showing the muddled thinking as he took a quick tap penalty when his team should have gone to the corner.

Saints lost Hendy to a head injury assessment, bringing Fraser Dingwall into the action five minutes before the break.

Carreras thought he had claimed his hat-trick soon after but a knock-on had been spotted in the build-up and Saints were handed a scrum in their own 22.

However, Gloucester did garner more points before the break, opting to go for goal after winning a breakdown penalty, which Afolabi Fasogbon celebrated with real vigour.

Carreras notched the kick to make it 22-7, and the players trotted off with the atmosphere extremely flat at a stunned Gardens.

Saints needed to summon a huge response at the break, and they started the second half by winning a series of penalties on the away line.

Alex Mitchell was sent on with a huge roar along with Manny Iyogun, and Saints scored almost immediately as Juarno Augustus powered over following a tap and go penalty.

Hutchinson converted and Saints were denied another try soon after as Sleightholme flew in but just lost control of the ball as he tried to deliver an acrobatic effort.

However, Saints had a real head of steam now and they were pushing Gloucester to the limits, forcing replacement hooker Seb Blake into the sin bin for killing an attack in cynical fashion.

Saints were seeking to pile the pressure on, but they failed to take their chance to keep Gloucester in trouble and the away side breathed a sigh of relief with a scrum penalty.

Gloucester were using every trick in the book to slow the game down, frustrating a Saints side who were wasting big moments to strike when they got the chance.

It did look like Saints had found a way back into the game when Mitchell produced some magic, breaking the line before flicking a pass that bounced into the path of Tom Litchfield.

However, after Litchfield dotted down, the TMO decided the ball had gone forward from Mitchell, which seemed to be an incredibly harsh call.

Saints did narrow the gap with a Hutchinson penalty six minutes from time but Gloucester made sure of the win as they grabbed a penalty from a lineout and Carreras kicked it to make it 25-17 with two minutes to go.

Hutchinson did have the chance to salvage a losing bonus point with the final kick of the game, but his penalty went just right of the right post and Saints took nothing from the game.

Saints: Furbank (c); Hendy (Dingwall 36), Litchfield, Hutchinson, Sleightholme; F Smith (Ramm 4), James (Mitchell 47); West (Iyogun 47), C Langdon, Davison (Green 57); Munga (Lockett 73), Coles; Scott-Young, Pearson (Pollock 57), Augustus.

Gloucester: Carreras; Wade, Llewelyn, S Atkinson, Thorley (Hathaway 19); Anscombe (Harris 65), Englefield (Chapman 72); Rapava-Ruskin (Knight 64), Singleton (Blake 40), Fasogbon (Gotovtsev 57); Clark, Thomas (Alemanno 58); Clement (Ackermann 58), Ludlow (c), Mercer.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe