There are plenty of potential contenders to win this year’s Premiership, but they have yet to take Saracens’ stubborn fingers off the trophy. When the push comes, the defending champions tend to raise their level of play, and a determined defensive performance was rewarded when Owen Farrell scored the penalty goal three minutes from time to take the lead in a weight contest.
That’s the growing trend towards open and frictionless premiership attempts. It was an often tough, old-fashioned game that was ultimately marked by defensive commitment, and when the dust had finally settled, it was the Sarries who were best positioned to secure a potential semi-final at home when the playoffs begin next month.
They had to work very hard for this, keeping Bath scoreless in the first 40 minutes and building the victory on the foundations of the attempts of Tom Parton and Rotimi Segun in the first half. Just when it looked as if close attempts by Thomas du Toit and Cameron Redpath could have revived Bath, Farrell’s decisive penalty from bang in front of the posts finally silenced the local crowd.
It was not always nice, and the Saracens repeatedly decided to hit the ball high to deprive their hosts of the oxygen of a light actionstartinging ball, but the end fully justified the means. While there will certainly be a lot more twists and turns by the end of the regular season, this result could have a big impact on the final shakedown of the top four.
“It’s great,” admitted Mark McCall, Saracens” director of rugby. “We had to regain some of the energy and team spirit that we have lacked a little in the last two weeks. We had to support each other and action for each other throughout the game, and I’m really proud that we did that. This can be a springboard for us.”
No one will ever know if a fit Finn Russell would have changed the equation, but Bath certainly missed his creative pivot. You will also wonder what could have happened if Maro Itoje had seen red instead of yellow for a direct actionstarting on Alfie Barbeary, which caused cries of protest from the supporters of the house.
Some of the replays were not great, but referee Luke Pearce finally decided that the first contact had been a little lower and deserved only a yellow card, a decision that confused Bath’s rugby manager Johann van Graan. “What I saw was a head-on collision,” he said, wanting to salute the courage and determination of the Saracens. “It was as close to a Premiership test match as possible. That’s why they are the champions. It was a titanic v.”
England head coach Steve Borthwick had no shortage of international team members to look out for on a chilly, quiet evening, with Barbeary and Charlie Ewels both excellent for Bath and Theo Dan making another eye-catching contribution on the Sarries bench. Farrell was also a central figure, triggering a wonderful 80-yard breakthrough that forced the position from which Bath finally conceded a ruck penalty and allowed him to score the winning points.