Saracens endured a winless evening in Group C of the Singha Premiership Rugby 7s Series at Franklin's Gardens, as they picked up just two losing bonus points from their three games.

The reigning Premiership champions suffered narrow defeats to Gloucester Rugby and Northampton Saints before being well-beaten by Harlequins, who won all three of their fixtures with try bonus points.

Saracens matched Gloucester for much of the opening game in Northampton but a late Mat Protheroe try gave the south-west outfit a 26-19 victory.

The Cherry & Whites outscored Saracens by four tries to three with Dominic Morris, Ali Crossdale and Ben Earl scoring for the Allianz Park based side, while Tom Whiteley added two conversions.

It was a similar story in their second game against Northampton Saints, where Saracens trailed to Tom Collins’ early score but a Jarrad Hayler try brought them back to 7-5.

Collins and Ben Earl exchanged further tries but James Grayson put the Saints ahead 19-12 at the break.

The Premiership champions were back in the game almost immediately after half-time when Callum Sirker scored their third try before Sam Olver put Saints back in front.

And it finished 24-17 to the Saints but a second losing bonus point of the evening left Saracens with a slim chance of qualification for the final at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry heading into their final game against Harlequins.

However it was not to be as Harlequins showed why they went unbeaten through the night, with James Lang running in three tries before half-time to set up a 28-0 lead.

Harlequins put six tries past the young Saracens side in total, but second-half scores from Sirker, Alex Gliksten and Nick Forster all added some respectability to the score.

Despite their efforts it wasn’t enough to prevent Saracens falling to their third, and heaviest, defeat of the evening, 42-17.

Eight teams will play for the first silverware of the season in the Singha Premiership Rugby 7s Series Finals from 2pm at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry on Sunday 7 August. Click here for tickets