Premiership Rugby Academy : Camps & Courses : Saracens hold off Wasps fightback

The 2010 J.P. Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7s Series champions Sarries got off to a winning start in the second match as they fought off Wasps for a 17-12 win.

It was Wasps who made the quicker start controlling possession early on and after several darts American international hooker Derek Asbun, a guest from Oxford University, who eventually made the dominance pay.

Saracens appeared to be struggling to find a way through the Wasps defence but James Short, one of the standout players last year, spotted a gap and once he was away there was nobody who was going to catch him, Nils Mordt's conversion edging Sarries into a 7-5 lead.

Things got worse for Wasps when Sean Morris was sent to the sin bin for delaying a penalty and inevitably the six men cracked, George Kruis going over as the half-time hooter sounded for a 12-5 lead at the break.

After the break Sarries continued where they had left off in the first, Will Fraser making the most of the lack of Wasps numbers to go over on the right.

Wasps were not about to give up the ghost though and pulled a try back through Chris Mayor, the conversion from Jack Wallace making it 17-12 with two minutes remaining however Sarries hung on for the win.

Land Rover has today announced an exciting new four year sponsorship deal with Premiership Rugby. This partnership, which will run to the end of the 2015-2016 season, builds on a hugely successful eight year relationship between the two organisations. The sponsorship was announced today at the launch of the new Aviva Premiership Rugby season.

AVIVA PREMIERSHIP Rugby has been chosen by the International Rugby Board (IRB) to trial two new, and significant, changes to rugby union this season, one involving the Television Match Official and the other a system of Pitch Side Concussion Assessment for players.