• Northampton 28-14 Gloucester

• Alex Mitchell limps off with suspected hamstring pull

England’s injury problems are mounting before Sunday’s autumn opener against Australia with the scrum-half, Alex Mitchell, limping out of Northampton’s hard-fought victory over Gloucester with another suspected hamstring injury.

It is to the credit of Northampton that they weathered that setback, withheld Gloucester’s early onslaught to score 28 unanswered points and see off the early-season pace-setters. Northampton’s last league outing here ended with 119 points scored, but this was a victory founded on their defensive resilience with Tom Pearson, back in the England picture, outstanding throughout.

If Pearson’s performance will have pleased Steve Borthwick, Mitchell’s withdrawal will not. He is already waiting on the fitness of the Northampton fly-half Fin Smith, who was in the stands with an injured calf, and now has concerns over his half-back partner.

Mitchell’s injury is all the more of a concern with Archie McParland, his Northampton team-mate and fellow scrum-half, omitted from the matchday squad here.

It would be rough on Mitchell should he miss out with his fourth hamstring injury of the year. He suffered similar injuries during the Six Nations, at an England camp in May – recovering to take his place in the Northampton squad for the Prem final win over Exeter – and during the summer Test against Fiji. Jack van Poortvliet was England’s starting scrum-half for the summer given Mitchell’s lack of game time, but when fit and firing the Saint is England’s first choice.

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Joe Shaw praised Saracens’ character as they saw off a highly competitive and scrapping Newcastle side at the StoneX Stadium. The head coach saw his team overturn a 17-7 half-time deficit to run out 39-31 bonus-point winners for their third Prem victory of the season and move up to third.

Noah Caluori came on after the break to lift what had been a lacklustre home performance by racing over for a score as Sarries ran in five second-half tries to finally get the better of visitors who had threatened an upset.

Shaw said: “It’s probably best to forget about that first half because it wasn’t a pretty watch and was unexpected … Fortunately, the guys improved a lot with their execution after the break and we created several fine tries.”

Johann van Graan was upbeat after seeing Bath returned to winning ways with a comfortable 36-28 bonus-point victory over Sale at the Rec. After three consecutive defeats, the home side were greatly improved, playing with far more speed and efficiency than in recent weeks to entertain the sell-out crowd with a number of well-created tries. Joe Cokanasiga (pictured) scored two of them, Henry Arundell, Tom de Glanville and Louie Hennessey the others, with Finn Russell converting four and adding a penalty.

Nathan Jibulu, Tom O’Flaherty, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Elia Canakaivata scored Sale’s tries, all of which George Ford converted.

Van Graan, Bath's director of rugby, said: “Last week we didn’t take our opportunities, but we were much more clinical today. We had a good balance to our game, with Finn expertly using the space out wide against a big physical side. We were really positive throughout and closed the game out well."

Harlequins' head coach, Jason Gilmore, said a big improvement in his side’s discipline paved the way for their 31-28 victory at Exeter. Quins led 14-0 after 11 minutes but then allowed the Chiefs back into the contest by giving away nine penalties and it was 14-14 at the break.

Gilmore said: “We went eight or nine penalties on the bounce against us, which was poor, and a yellow card, and we gave Exeter good field position … I said to the boys at half-time: 'If we can stop giving penalties away and get our hands back on the ball, we will be all right,' and I don’t think we gave away a penalty again until the last minute of the game.” Press Association

Photograph: Simon King/Shutterstock Editorial

Ten of the players on show were included in England’s mini-training camp this week. If Borthwick finds himself without both Northampton scrum-halves, Ben Spencer would appear to be the next cab off the rank with Harry Randall another option. Borthwick also has problems at hooker with Theo Dan going off early in Saracens’ win over Newcastle and fitness concerns over the Bath youngster Kepu Tuipulotu.

Mitchell’s withdrawal here came midway through the first half after he was caught by a Gloucester chaser when covering back to gather a loose ball. Northampton were under the pump by this stage, the visitors beginning in a manner that befitted their lofty league position.

They struck first with a well-worked move after eight minutes. Gloucester’s driving maul has been a lethal weapon this season, but while Northampton withstood the drive, they had no answer to the visitors’ quick hands. The captain, Seb Atkinson, who this week signed a new contract until 2029, put the excellent George Barton through a gap and he offloaded to Max Llewellyn to score. Will Joseph was next over, showing his acceleration to dash under the posts after a clever pass out the back by Atkinson, who impressed throughout.

Northampton had not really got going, but managed to find parity at the half-time interval. Both tries came from driving mauls, finished by Pearson and Curtis Langdon. Not exactly the type of scores for which Saints are associated, but evidently their canny group of coaches had done their homework.

Midway through the second half Northampton turned down a straightforward penalty at goal to kick to the corner. It felt risky given the scrappy nature of the contest, but it paid off with George Hendy splashing over on the left. With a spring in their step, Saints chalked up the bonus-point score after some nifty footwork from the replacement Rory Hutchinson to move Northampton into third in the table, sitting pretty as the league takes a break until December.