Improved Bath Lose At Sarries

Bath lost to Saracens 30-22 at Vicarage Road in the Anglo-Welsh LV= Cup but can travel back to the West Country with their heads held high following a good performance. The younger players, introduced for this match, stepped up and delivered to a good standard that will put the first choice players under some pressure.

Saracens started the game putting Bath under tremendous pressure, testing the visiting defence. Eventually the attackers scored some points through a Glen Jackson penalty for when Bath were caught off-side. Against the run of play Bath took the lead after 13 minutes when Jonny Faamatuainu picked up at the back of a scrum on the Sarries twenty-two, saw a gap in the Saracen's defence and dashed through to score in the corner giving his side a 5-3 lead. Saracens immediately put Bath on the back foot and had an overlap begging to be grabbed for a score, however Horak opted to take the tackle instead of passing for a certain score and Bath held out. It took Saracens another 10 minutes before they regained the lead through a penalty.

After 25 minutes Scott Hobson scored Bath's second try when the defence was caught ball watching. Nicky Little converted the goal to make the score 12-6. Just before the half-hour mark Justin Melck took Sarries to within a point when he scored a try from a cross-field kick after Nicky Little had lost possession. Jackson missed the conversion. However he was more accurate four minutes before half-time with a penalty in front of the Bath posts but Little did likewise to give Bath a 14-15 lead at half time.

Saracens started the second half with a converted try from Richard Haughton after less than three minutes to immediately re-grab the lead and then continued to threaten the visiting goal line. Moments later Scott Bemand limped from the field and was joined on the bench by Rhys Crane. Ryan Davis was introduced at No 12, with Cheeseman and Williams shifting across the pitch. Saracens maintained their momentum with another penalty kick in front of the Bath posts to make the score 24-15.

Just before the final quarter of the match Jonny Faamatuainu scored his second try of the game after being set up by Ben Williams. Bath stretched the Sarries defence across the field in both directions to score an easy try. A great conversion by Ryan Davis took his side to within two points of the Londoners. However despite a great effort from the young Bath side, Sarries stretched their lead to five points with an easy penalty with 15 minutes left on the clock. Glen Jackson closed out the game with a penalty just before the end to make the score 30-22 to Saracens.

Saracens

15 Michael Horak, 14 Richard Haughton, 13 Rodd Penney, 12 Kevin Sorrell, 11 Michael Tagicakibau, 10 Glen Jackson, 9 Kevin Barrett, 1 Matias Aguero, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 3 Tom Mercey, 4 Hayden Smith, 5 Mouritz Botha, 6 Wikus van Heerden, 7 Justin Melck, 8 Ernst Joubert,

16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Kasiano Lealamanua, 18 Richard Skuse, 19 Tom Ryder, 20 Schalk Brits, 21 Neil de Kock, 22 Alex Goode, 23 James Short

Bath

15. Jack Cuthbert, 14. Michael Stephenson, 13. Tom Cheeseman, 12. Ben Williams, 11. Rhys Crane, 10. Nicky Little, 9. Scott Bemand, 1. David Barnes, 2. Rob Hawkins, 3. Aaron Jarvis, 4. Scott Hobson, 5. Peter Short (c), 6. Daniel Browne, 7. Josh Ovens, 8. Jonny Faamatuainu