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England star rebounds from Six Nations pain with double in Saracens demolition
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Gallagher Prem champions Bath left no doubt about their appetite for another title as they swept Saracens aside 62-15 at the Rec to regain top spot.
The Londoners started brightly and did not lack for effort but Bath’s killer instinct earned them nine tries in front of another capacity crowd. Scotland’s Finn Russell kicked 17 points from seven conversions and a penalty.
Russell and club skipper Ben Spencer were straight back into action after ultimately frustrating Six Nations campaigns with their respective countries.
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Saracens were quickest out of the blocks, charging down Spencer’s attempted box-kick and working Tobias Elliott clear for a try in the corner after just 70 seconds. Owen Farrell landed the conversion and added a penalty after 13 minutes as Bath struggled to find their rhythm.
Ollie Lawrence provided the necessary reset, first with a crash-ball surge almost to the try-line and then the tip-on for Will Muir to score in the corner from the five-metre scrum. Russell converted and delivered a prodigious 40-22 kick to pile on the pressure again.
Scotland back-row Josh Bayliss won the resulting line-out and retrieved a loose ball to evade three defenders on his way to the tryline, with Russell’s conversion putting the home side 14-10 ahead after 20 minutes.
Consecutive penalty awards against the visitors led to Alfie Barbeary exploiting an opening from a catch-and-drive for the third Bath try.
Back came Saracens with a Theo Dan breakaway which forced a penalty advantage leading to a second try for Elliott.
However, a 70-metre interception try by Henry Arundell soon secured the bonus point for Bath. Russell converted and rounded off the first-half with a penalty for a 31-15 interval lead.
Saracens came out for the second half in determined mood, but when they lost possession right in front of the Bath posts the ball was cleared upfield and skipper Spencer seized his chance to score in the corner.
Russell was wide with the kick but had no problem converting Kepu Tuipulotu’s score after 54 minutes as the formidable Bath bench took the game out of the visitors’ reach. Another sweeping counter-attack gave Arundell his second try 10 minutes later, with Russell’s conversion bringing up the 50 points.
England flanker Guy Pepper finished off a blinding move started by Russell in his own 22 and carried on by Arundell and Lawrence. There was still time for replacement scrum-half Bernard van der Linde to race away from a ruck for an unconverted ninth try.
