Saracens remain winless in Premiership after home loss to Bath
Bath maintained their winning start to the new Premiership season with a 25-16 triumph over defending champions Saracens at a stormy StoneX Stadium.
Andy Christie’s try gave Sarries an early lead, but the visitors struck back with Tom de Glanville, Miles Reid and Ruaridh McConnochie going over during an impressive first-half display.
Alex Lozowski’s penalty reduced the deficit to four points after the break, but Thomas du Toit’s bonus-point score secured the victory despite Chris Cloete’s late yellow card.
The result leaves Saracens rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table, while Bath go top after back-to-back bonus-point wins.
Saracens came out of the blocks firing, with Christie charging down a careless Finn Russell chip before regathering and crossing underneath the posts to help put his side 7-0 ahead.
However, the Scotland fly-half made amends immediately, deceiving the onrushing Sarries defence with a stunning offload to feed De Glanville for Bath’s first try of the match.
The visitors then took a 12-7 lead after Reid muscled his way across the whitewash from close range.
Lozowski reduced the difference to two points with a penalty midway through the first half, but Bath were back in control less than two minutes later.
Ben Spencer produced a delightful cross-field kick from the base of a ruck to feed McConnochie, and the winger capitalised, going over in the corner on his first start of the season.
Lozowski took another shot at goal 12 minutes before half-time, but his effort drifted agonisingly wide.
The Saracens centre did kick his second penalty of the afternoon shortly after to keep the hosts within touching distance, but Russell restored Bath’s seven-point advantage moments later.
Saracens were on the front foot as the heavens opened after the break, but Aled Davies knocked the ball on at the base of a ruck on the edge of Bath’s 22, and the visitors cleared the ball downfield.
It was not long before Saracens were back in the visitors’ half, and after the hosts won a penalty, Lozowski made it 20-16 from the tee.
However, that only seemed to anger Johann van Graan’s side, and they were in the ascendency again six minutes later when Du Toit touched down from the back of a driving maul.
The hosts showed immense heart to stay in the game in difficult conditions and had the opportunity to launch an attack from a lineout in Bath territory with 10 minutes left to play.
But the conditions got the better of replacement hooker Samson Adejimi, and his throw was judged not straight as the match started to slip away from Sarries.
Bath controlled the closing stages, dominating possession and limiting Saracens to scraps as they capped an excellent afternoon with a statement victory.
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
4 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
4 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments