Bath 12 Saracens 15
This is why they are champions. After Bath rallied from 12-0 down to draw level, a late penalty from Owen Farrell ensured that Saracens will be in the box-seat for a home play-off.
Deploying a pragmatic combination of relentless kicking and a blitz defending, Saracens smothered the life out of Bath for much of the game with the attacking talents of Ollie Lawrence and Alfie Barbeary being kept firmly under wraps.
A week after Bristol Bears only kicked the ball four times as part of the exhilarating wave of attacking rugby sweeping the Premiership, Saracens played the role of counter revolutionaries, putting boot to ball an extraordinary 47 times. Expect it to be a tactic they redeploy now we are firmly in the business end of the season. Other teams can win hearts and minds, Mark McCall’s side will focus on winning titles, particularly with the potential benefit of a home semi-final in which they have not lost for 11 years.
Farrell created scores for wings Tom Parton and Rotimi Segun in the first half before Bath responded midway through the second half through scores by replacements Thomas Du Toit and Cameron Repath. But while Bath were turning the screw at the set piece, Saracens ultimately showed the mettle of champions to leapfrog the hosts into second place.
The first half was a story of kicks, and lots of them. A total of 54 which had many spectators, who had paid more than £100 a ticket, developing a severe case of neck ache as the ball sailed high into the night. Clearly, the chiropractors of Bath will be doing a roaring trade in the coming days.
But while many of the bombs and box kicks lacked any variation or imagination there were two moments of class, both from the boot of Farrell. First on 12 minutes, it was his grubber that put Nick Tomkins into the Bath with centre partner Lucio Cinit in support. Saracens’ red-zone efficiency is among the best in the league and here they went through the phrases before Ben Earl, Farrell and Tompkins showed excellent hands to put Parton over in the corner.
Then with the clock almost red, Segun capitalised on a loose ball and a lapse in Bath’s concentration to storm deep into Bath territory. Again they patiently kept possession before Farrell changed the direction of play, delivering the most delicate of chips that Segun gathered to score in the corner. Farrell’s conversion gave Saracens a 12-0 lead.
Saracens did not have things all their own way as Maro Itoje was sin-binned for a head-on-head collision with Alfie Barbeary, but by and large all of Bath’s danger men were kept firmly under wraps.
Finally a scrum penalty via the replacement front row gave the home crowd life as Bath kicked in the Saracens 22 and after some desperate goalline defence, Du Toit plunged over. Now there was hope, even as Ben Spencer missed the conversion.
Itoje further blotted his copybook, conceding a needless penalty at the breakdown that allowed Bath to once again kick to the corner. Tom Dunn threw to the tail where the Bath maul started motoring and the unlikely figure of Redpath came up with the ball.
Momentum was all on Bath’s side but in a flash some gorgeous hands from Cinti, Farrell and Tompkins set Theo Dan thundering into the middle of the pitch. The replacement hooker kicked ahead and while Redpath gathered he was tackled over his own tryline for a five-metre scrum. Again they cycled through the phrases before Bath were penalised for offside and in front of the posts Farrell was never going to miss.
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