Henry Arundell compared to Springbok hero after display against Saracens

Henry Arundell was compared to South Africa great Bryan Habana after the England wing propelled Bath to the summit of the Gallagher Prem by scoring two crucial tries in a 36-29 victory over Saracens.

First Arundell picked off an 80-metre intercept to help prevent Saracens from building on their early 14-0 lead and he then produced the match-winning touch down when given sight of the line by Max Ojomoh.

The jet-heeled 23-year-old’s second try came in the 76th minute with the score tied 29-29 as the title rivals went toe to toe in a riveting title clash in north London.

Bath boss Johann van Graan said that Arundell reminded him of Habana, the former Springbok wing who amassed 67 tries in 124 Test appearances and who worked under the South African at the Bulls from 2005 to 2009.

“You can go and look at YouTube – we played the Brumbies in Canberra and Bryan had this straight-line run and that’s the thought that went into my head in terms of speed,” Van Graan said.

“They’re the two quickest players that I’ve coached and Bryan became one of the world’s best.

“Henry’s got a long way to go, just game by game, but he works so hard on his game. The speed bit was there for all to see, but he was also fantastic in the air.

“We’ve all been so impressed since the first day he joined us: what he does off the field, his nutrition, the work in the gym, his skills extras. Where he started the season and where he is now, there have been a lot of big improvements.

“He works on all parts of his game and the best bit is that he’s a good human, he’s fitted into our group.

“He was very good and by his own admission he would want to repeat that and then repeat that.”

Ojomoh, a final-quarter replacement at StoneX Stadium, showed skilful handling and a burst of speed to set up the pivotal try a week after emerging as England’s matchwinner in a tight encounter against Argentina.

“Max has had a great last seven days! He’s a real confidence player – that pick-up and accelerate. It then looks so easy but you’ve still got to put that pass right in front of Henry and he did that,” Van Graan said.

Van Graan likened the clash to two heavyweight boxers exchanging blows and Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall admitted his side paid the price for failing to make Bath work harder for their points.

“We played some really good rugby in the first-half, but at 14-0 ahead we conceded 10 soft points and we were 22-10 up and conceded softly after that as well,” McCall said.

“You just can’t afford to do that against a team like Bath. Overall we went toe to toe with a really good team, but there were some small lapses of concentration which hurt us.”

Number eight Tom Willis limped off in the 21st minute with a a hip injury and McCall added: “You don’t want to lose someone who’s been playing as well as him.”