365 Sporting Days – New!

Nanny duty on Saturday morning meant I came to this match late, SofaScore had kept me up to date with the score until just after half time, so I knew I was in for some pain! Karl Dickson had charge of the whistle, Bath had charge of the game!

Saracens had made 7 changes to the starting team, rotation, as most teams need to do during the season. Bath had the first scrum close to the Saracens line after an Alfie Barbeary kick on had been fumbled by both Alex Lozowski and Tobias Elliot, they were also awarded the first free kick from the scrum. Tom Dunn tapped and went and Saracens were penalised for offside as Bath attacked. The ball was kicked to touch this time. Bath took the ball and went through their forwards again. Finn Russell put in a lovely cross field kick and Liam Williams hit the ball into touch, giving him a deserved yellow card and Bath a deserved penalty try. Joe Cockanasiga would have caught the ball had Williams not intervened. Theo McFarland had gone down injured as the Forwards attacked and had to leave the field with less than 5 minutes on the clock.

Tobias Elliot was injured as Ben Spencer kicked the ball upfield, it looked like a dislocated finger, that saw him leave the game too. Not a great start for Saracens, to say the least!

A penalty for Saracens saw them with a line out close to the Bath line, It looked like Ben Earl had scored, but the pass from Gareth Simpson was really quite forward, it was plain on the TV coverage and really should have been seen by the Assistant Referee. Bath won a penalty from the resulting scrum and were able to clear their lines.

Angus Hall dropped the ball kicked up field by Spencer, but advantage was called over almost as Russell kicked a speculative ball, only to be taken by Lucio Cinti. Russell then made an error with his next, clearing kick, but Charlie Ewels won the Saracens ball for Bath

Things went from bad to worse when Toby Knight didn’t get low enough into a tackle on Ollie Lawrence, there wasn’t enough of a drop from Lawrence, that was therefore deemed to be a red card. Brian O’Driscoll was of the opinion that would have been a 20 minute red under the trial in the Autumn Internationals, but a trial it was and Saracens would have to play with 14 men for 66 minutes. All of that somewhat explained the regular pings from Sofascore!

Bath took an almost instant advantage of the extra man with a try for Thomas Du Toit after a couple of big carries by Lawrence then Ted Hill, there was no stopping Du Toit! The score was 14 nil after 16 minutes.

Bath were penalised from the kick off then again as Saracens attacked. Saracens went quickly but failed to capitalise as a Fergus Burke short pass to Hartley went down. Bath were penalised at the scrum and Burke went for the posts this time, at least this wouldn’t be another Premiership zero!

I’ve just had the final score ping on my phone, so I’m going to try and just admire Bath’s play as I watch!

Bath’s next try scorer was Cam Redpath, Saracens had defended against the Bath forwards well but Finn Russell put a perfect pass in to Redpath who scored close to the posts. The conversion was good taking Bath to 21.

Maro Itoje gave Saracens fans something to cheer as he got onto the ball on the floor seeing Barbeary penalised. Williams went close, with Rotimi Segun clear outside of him. Burke then had Angus Hall in acres of space out on the wing, his kick across to him was wild, an opportunity missed!

A stat came up showing Bath as the team with the fewest tries conceded this season, with just 20 before this match, Saracens wouldn’t be bothering that particular stat much!

Dickson made an error which could easily have been undone, awarding Bath the scrum put in after he deemed Hall Had knocked on, the could be heard questioning his own decision. Bath scored a lovely try from the scrum after a great pass from Spencer to Will Muir out on the wing, he stormed down the line to score. The kick was a difficult one, but not a problem for Russell, the score was Bath 28 Saracens 3 as half time approached. I am going to have to put myself through the second half, in spite of knowing how it went!

Ben earl fumbled the restart and we had a clean scrum! Saracens were offside as Bath attacked. Dunn went with a quick tap, Saracens were penalised again, cue another tap and go. Bath were held up this time round. Saracens won the ball as they kicked out but their attack came to nothing.

Russell, Lawrence and Cockanasiga combined to score Bath’s next try as a Saracens clearing kick stayed in. Lawrence passed out the back of his hand, seeing off 2 defenders, and his winger had a clear run in. the kick went wide.

Liam Williams went down injured after he was cleared out of a ruck, his game was over after 48 minutes.

To add insult to injury my Discovery Plus is giving me horrible blurry pictures for some unknown reason!

Will Muir scored his second after 57 minutes a closer range try this time, he slid in after taking a pass from De Glanville after another great pass from Spencer. I feel that in the past he’s tried too hard against his former club, he got things absolutely right in this match!

That was 6 tries for Bath, and when you’re in the position Saracens were the last thing you really want to see is Sam Underhill entering the fray! He made his mark 3 minutes after he arrived. The build up involved yet another lovely pass from Russell, and for the actual try another cracker from Spencer to Miles Reid who passed on to Underhill to score. The successful conversion took Bath to 47.

Having avoided the zero Saracens added a try through Kapeli Pifeleti who broke through a couple of Bath players, that was pretty much the only negative for Bath. They had another 3 tries up their sleeves!

I’m going to confess to going on Fast Forward for the next 3 Bath Tries – taking them to 10 for the game and beating their previous record best win against Saracens!

Ollie Lawrence was next on the score sheet, he’d had an excellent game, if only he could replicate this form for England. He’d charged down a kick from Sam Spink, he collected the ball to score.

Cockanasiga scored his 2nd try 4 minutes later, Bath had looked to have scored moments earlier but Dixon had spotted a knock on and the TMO confirmed that. It took an age to confirm, but Dixon was right. Cockanasiga’s try was indisputable and it was another good pass from De Gloanville to put him in.

Will Muir polished things off on 78 minutes, anything Cockanasiga could do so could he, his Hat-Trick try saw him taking a lovely pass from Russell to run down the field to score. Muir was awarded the Man of the Match accolade, it could have gone to one of several Bath players. A great performance from Bath they went in with the record score of Bath Rugby 68 Saracens 10 – Saracens biggest Premiership Rugby loss. One to forget for the visitors and to savour for Bath.