Sarries return to the summit

Saracens battled their way to a 21-15 win over rock-bottom Leeds at Vicarage Road to return to the top of Guinness Premiership table.

A pair of tries from Kameli Ratuvou helped the home side record a sixth straight league victory, moving them back above London Irish.

However Sarries did not have things all their own way in a game that was too often stopped by the whistle of referee David Rose, who blew for 27 penalties.

Ceiron Thomas contributed all the visitors' points with the boot but the top-flight's basement dwellers rarely threatened to score a try.

Ratuvou brace

Saracens were far from fluent themselves but did enough to keep their opponents at arm's length throughout the contest.

Fiji centre Ratuvou grabbed tries either side of half time after fly-half Glen Jackson had kicked six points in the opening quarter for Sarries.

Despite the loss of scrum-half Justin Marshall, who limped off in the 27th minute, the hosts did not seize control until Leeds were reduced to 14 men.

Having twice slotted over penalties to get his side back on level terms, Thomas' sin-binning for deliberately handling in a ruck cost Carnegie dear.

Although Seru Rabeni's excellent tackle denied Noah Cato, Ratuvou smashed his way through Chris Wyles to get the opening try right on half time.

Missed chance

The score was a major blow for Leeds, particularly as their full-back Leigh Hinton had passed up the chance to kick possession dead with time over in the half.

Leeds did reduce the deficit to two points when the returning Thomas kicked his third successful penalty two minutes after the break.

However Saracens pulled away again when Ratuvou scored his second of the afternoon, this one to the left of the posts, with Jackson adding the conversion.

Another Thomas penalty kept Leeds in touch, but his first miss, on the hour, was a lost opportunity to reward a rare period of pressure from the away team.

The fly-half did at least make sure they picked up a losing bonus point, though, cancelling out Derick Hougaard's 77th-minute penalty with a late drop goal.