Strettle treble and TMO help Sarries
Saracens kicked off their Premiership campaign in controversial fashion as David Strettle's hat-trick sealed a dramatic 34-28 victory over Wasps at Twickenham on Saturday.
Christian Wade's two second-half tries had helped Wasps run in 22 unanswered points to lead 28-20, only for Saracens to strike back and win it in the final minute.
To make the loss even more frustrating for Wasps, Strettle's last-gasp try was a dubious decision by television match official David Sainsbury.
Referee Andrew Small referred the decision on the score to the TMO, with Sainsbury eventually awarding the pivotal try.
The decision left Wasps angry as replays showed Strettle appeared to knock on while grounding the ball.
Premiership bosses have told referees to take greater control of big decisions and refer fewer calls to the television officials, but once again another big call has been made by arbiters off the field.
Saracens lost last term's Premiership final due to a TMO call that awarded Alex Waller Northampton's extra-time winner.
Tries from Chris Ashton and Strettle eased Saracens into half-time 20-9 ahead before the Wasps revival.
Strettle raced in for his second to squeeze Wasps' lead back to one point, before the former Harlequins wing crossed again to steal victory.
* Also in action at Twickenham on the opening weekend were Harlequins, who ground out a hard-fought 20-15 win over London Irish.
Quins were nowhere near their best and were hard pressed to repel a battling second-half performance from Irish.
The visitors seemed in total control when they led 20-6 at half-time but, early in the second half, both props Joe Marlar and Kyle Sinckler collected yellow cards, allowing Irish to mount a revival.
Quins had dominated the first half with tries from Ugo Monye and replacement Ollie Lindsay-Hague, with two conversions and two penalties from Nick Evans and had the outside half not missed with three simple penalties, Quins would have won the game more comfortably.
Some excellent goal-kicking from Shane Geraghty saw him succeed with five penalties but crucially Irish failed to score a try when Quins were down to 13 men.
A late penalty from Evans saw the visitors home.
* Leicester's successful bid to keep Vereniki Goneva paid early dividends when the Fijian destroyed Newcastle with a 17-minute hat-trick in a 36-17 win.
Goneva, a target for French side Castres at the end of last season, decided to stay after lengthy talks and repaid the club's faith in him with tries in the 44th, 50th and 61st minutes.
Leicester scored four tries altogether and Newcastle responded with two from Richard Mayhew and Andy Saull.
* George Ford eclipsed Danny Cipriani in the battle of the England flyhalves as Bath beat Sale 29-20 in front of national coach Stuart Lancaster.
Ahead of next month's naming of the senior elite player squad for the year-end international campaign, Ford created the opening try for Anthony Watson and was instrumental again for Semesa Rokoduguni's second-half clincher.
Ford also kicked 19 points as Bath, who will welcome England rugby league star Sam Burgess to the club from NRL outfit South Sydney Rabbitohs next month, took the spoils.
Cipriani also showed glimpses of class on his 100th Premiership appearance as he kicked 10 points but Bath eked out the win, denying Sale a losing bonus point.
Scores and scorers in Saturday's matches:
Leicester Tigers 36 Newcastle Falcons 17
The scorers:
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Goneva 3, Mele
Cons: Burns 2
Pens: Burns 4
For Newcastle Falcons:
Tries: Mayhew, Saull
Cons: Socino 2
Pen: Socino
The teams:
Leicester Tigers: 15 Niall Morris, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Ben Youngs (captain), 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Sebastian De Chaves, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Tom Bristow, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Jamie Gibson, 20 Robert Barbieri, 21 David Mele, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Matt Smith.
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Sinoti Sinoti, 13 Adam Powell, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Noah Cato, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Will Welch (captain), 6 Richard Mayhew, 5 Josh Furno, 4 Calum Green, 3 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Rob Vickers.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Alex Rogers, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Dom Barrow, 20 Andy Saull, 21 Ruki Tipuna, 22 Alex Tuilagi, 23 Gonzalo Tiesi
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant Referees: Andy Watson, Nigel Carrick
TMO: David Grashoff
London Irish 15 Harlequins 20
The scorers:
For London Irish:
Pens: Geraghty 5
For Harlequins:
Tries: Monye, Lindsay-Hague
Cons: Evans 2
Pens: Evans 2
Yellow cards: Eamonn Sheridan (London Irish, 26), Joe Marler (Harlequins, 41), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 50)
The teams:
London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Eamonn Sheridan, 11 James Short, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Scott Steele, 8 Tom Guest, 7 Ofisa Treviranus, 6 Blair Cowan, 5 Dan Leo, 4 George Skivington (captain), 3 Halani Aulika, 2 David Paice, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Gerard Ellis, 17 Matt Parr, 18 Leo Halavatau, 19 Kieran Low, 20 Conor Gilsenan, 21 Tomás O'Leary, 22 Chris Noakes, 23 Tom Fowlie.
Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Luke Wallace, 5 George Robson, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler (captain).
Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Will Collier, 19 George Merrick, 20 Jack Clifford, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Ben Botica, 23 Ollie Lindsay-Hague.
Referee: Gregory Garner
Assistant Referees: Ashley Rowden, Andrew Pearce
TMO: Keith Lewis
Sale Sharks 20 Bath 29
The scorers:
For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Jennings, Easter
Cons: Cipriani 2
Pens: Cipriani 2
For Bath:
Tries: Watson, Rokodoguni
Cons: Ford 2
Pens: Ford 5
Yellow card: Dominic Day (Bath, 25)
The teams:
Sale Sharks: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Will Addison, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Mark Easter, 7 David Seymour, 6 Dan Braid (captain), 5 Michael Paterson, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Eifion Lewis Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Cameron Neild, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Alberto di Marchi, 19 Jonathan Mills, 20 Magnus Lund, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Tom Arscott.
Bath: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Anthony Watson, 10 George Ford, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Guy Mercer, 6 Alafoti Fa'osiliva, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Stuart Hooper (captain), 3 David Wilson, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Gavin Henson, 23 Matt Banahan.
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant Referees: Paul Burton, Robin Goodliffe
TMO: Trevor Fisher
Saracens 34 Wasps 28
The scorers:
For Saracens:
Tries: Ashton, Strettle 3
Cons: Hodgson 2, Farrell 2
Pens: Hodgson 2
For London Wasps:
Tries: Hughes, Wade 2
Cons: Goode 2
Pens: Goode 3
Yellow card: Kelly Brown (Saracens, 9)
The teams:
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 David Strettle, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Will Fraser, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alistair Hargeaves (captain), 4 George Kruis, 3 Kieran Longbottom, 2 Jamie George, 1 Richard Barrington
Replacements: 16 Scott Spurling, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Petrus Du Plessis, 19 Jim Hamilton, 20 Jackson Wray, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Tim Streather.
London Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Chris Bell, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Will Hughes, 7 James Haskell (captain), 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 James Gaskell, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Matt Mullan
Replacements: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 John Yapp , 18 Phil Swainston, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Guy Thompson, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Andrea Masi
Referee: Andrew Small
Assistant Referees: Gareth Copsey, Peter Huckle
TMO: David Sainsbury