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Leanne Infante (centre) moved from Harlequins to Saracens in 2022Saracens extended their lead at the top of the Premiership Women's Rugby table with a 29-24 bonus-point win over London rivals Harlequins.
Harlequins had cut the point deficit to just two in the final five minutes but a Zoe Harrison penalty sealed the game.
The match saw a record crowd for a Saracens Women home game as 3,071 watched on at the Stone X Stadium.
The loss is Quins' seventh from 10 games this season and they remain in sixth place.
Quins broke the deadlock after 12 minutes as Beth Wilcock ran a blistering line to set up Shaunagh Brown's try.
The next score was a penalty try for Saracens after a TMO check found Abbie Fleming had illegally entered the maul and she was sent to the sin-bin. McKinley Hunt then scored for the hosts just before half-time to put Saracens 12-7 up.
Hunt secured her hat-trick with two tries at the start of the second half. Harlequins came back with scores from Freya Aucken, Nicole Wythe and Amy Layzell but they could not clinch the win. But Quins did pick up two bonus points, meaning they are now 10 points outside the league semi-finals places.
Elsewhere, fifth-place Loughborough Lightning were defeated 22-17 by Leicester Tigers in a game with another club-record attendance of 1,703 for Loughborough.
Loughborough hooker Kathryn Treder nabbed a first-half hat-trick but tries from Leicester's Claire Gallagher and Amelia Tutt put the score 17-12 at the break.
Gallagher scored the only second-half try and a penalty from Megan Jones sealed the comeback win.
Leicester, who were given a point deduction on Friday for failing to fill the quota for England-qualified players in a matchday squad, remain in eighth place despite the win. The victory is only Leicester's second win of the season.
On Sunday, Exeter Chiefs will play Sale Sharks and defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury take on west country rivals Bristol Bears.
English (US) ·