Comebacks, fly-hacks and cornrows - Prem talking points

At the start of pre-season, at their St Albans training ground, Brendan Venter made a speech to his Saracens squad.

"I don't want to be competitive in this league," the returning director of rugby said. "I want to dominate."

Sarries were short of domination - the lead swapped hands four times in the final half hour of a blockbuster - but victory away at Leicester was a fine statement of intent.

Hobbled by an injury to Olly Hartley in the first half and then reduced to 14 men by Nick Isiekwe's 20-minute red card in the second, the visitors nonetheless dug deep and silenced the baying Tigers fans with an extraordinary 40-38 win.

"We've worked a lot more on our mental game, our ability to deal with setbacks, to keep sticking to our process when things don't go our way," Ben Earl, who was initially deployed in the centres in a rejigged backline, told BBC Radio 5 Live afterwards.

"Maybe a different Sarries team from the last couple of years would probably have dropped away in different points in that, but we kept fighting away and finding a way."

Since their return from the Championship, no club has racked up more regular-season Prem points over the last five campaigns than Saracens.

They haven't felt as consistent as that stat suggests though. They narrowly missed out on the play-offs in each of the past two seasons.

This year, they have been strengthened by signings; Tomos Williams crackled with cunning at scrum-half. But they also have a hugely promising generation of talent coming through.

Second row Olamide Sodeke, 21, came on and played his part in a massive front-five final-quarter effort.

Twenty-two year-old Nathan Michelow, part of the England's 2024 under-20 World Cup winning side, is pushing hard for a starting spot in a stacked back row.

If Venter can marry young, new and superstar existing talent, while rallying the squad around his belligerent belief, they will be hard to stop.

Saracens edge out Leicester despite Isiekwe red

Wonder try to usher in new tactic?

You probably have seen it already. If you haven't, you really should., external

The try of the round came 32 minutes into Bath's win at Harlequins on Friday night.

The hosts, only four points down at that stage, had a clear two-on-one 30m out down the left wing.

Quins' Tyrone Green made what he thought would be a scoring pass to Oscar Beard, only for Bath full-back Santi Carreras to lunge foot-first between the two.

The ball cannoned upwards, Carreras chased, gathered one-handed and raced in under the sticks at the other end.

An outrageous score, with an outrageous slice of luck presuming Carreras was gambling to get anything on the ball, rather than plotting that particular flightpath.

It is unlikely many will repeat Carreras's exact play. But more may start sticking a boot into the passing lane in similar situations, given the stakes involved.

Had Carreras gone with a hand and knocked on, he was likely looking at a penalty try and a sin-binning, given the lack of cover behind.

All that was at risk by going for a volleyed fly-hack was looking very silly had Green hung on to the ball.

Carreras magic lights up Bath win over Harlequins

Cherry and Bright as Gloucester make winning start

Gloucester's pre-season was not all forward-facing.

Brett Deacon and Joel Tomkins, brought in from Leicester and Catalan Dragons, as new forwards and defence coach respectively also used a bit of nostalgia to inspire their new charges.

Mike Teague, part of a gnarly 1980s Cherry-and-White pack, was among the club legends they channelled to explain the hard-nosed approach they wanted.

In winning away to Exeter, there was plenty of that grit on show. As there should be when you look down the teamsheet

Val Rapava Ruskin is one of the top-flight's best scrummaging loose-heads. He packed down alongside Dewi Lake, who put in a player-of-the-match performance on debut, and England prospect Afolabi Fasogbon. The second row consisted of Springbok Rugby World Cup winner Jean Kleyn and Arthur Clark, one of the league's best young locks.

Add in the energy and bravery of Jac Morgan, typically topping the turnover and tackle charts, Freddie Thomas's industry and Will Trenholm's old-school go-forward and there is a foundation there to build on.

Out the back there is a rat-pack set of bright young English-qualified things.

Seb Atkinson was immense. Will Joseph scorched past Immanuel Feyi-Waboso for a superb score. Ben Redshaw at full-back is eye-wateringly rapid. Fly-half Charlie Atkinson, all clever kicks and keen eye for a gap, has looked the part since switching back into 10 from full-back halfway though last season.