Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Bath brush aside Saracens to claim final Heineken Champions Cup spot

By PA
Johan van Graan - PA

Bath ran in nine tries in a 61-29 win over a game Saracens second string to snatch the last Heineken Champions Cup spot next season from local rivals Bristol.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hooker Tom Dunn scored a hat-trick as Johann van Graan’s resurgent side notched a fourth successive Gallagher Premiership victory, a run that has propelled the club from the bottom of the table to that all-important eighth qualifying place.

The Rec broke into wild celebration as news came through from Ashton Gate that Bristol’s winning margin against Gloucester had not been enough.

Video Spacer
Video Spacer

Bath had led within three minutes of kick-off after Miles Reid won a line-out and popped up again to finish off a series of pulverising drives by his team-mates, with Ben Spencer adding the conversion.

Saracens’ youngsters opted for a wider game and soon fashioned an overlap on the right for the speedy Rotimi Segun to touch down an unconverted try.

The home side’s strong mauling game claimed a useful scalp when Saracens loosehead Eroni Mawi was sin-binned for offside and it proved even more costly when Dunn immediately finished off a catch-and-drive from the line-out for his 10th try of the season.

Spencer’s conversion took his side into a 14-5 lead after 12 minutes, but the visitors were giving as good as they got in the early stages.

ADVERTISEMENT

While Bath’s approach was narrow and predictable, Saracens made intelligent use of meagre possession and centre Olly Hartley was put clear with a deft pass from fly-half Manu Vunipola, who added the conversion.

England tighthead Will Stuart was close to claiming another try for Bath’s pack but the quick-thinking Josh Hallett scored again at the other end for Saracens, leaving Vunipola with a simple conversion to make it 19-14 to the league leaders.

The lead see-sawed as Beno Obano forced his way over from close range, Spencer converting again, only for hooker Ethan Lewis to finish off a catch-and-drive which gave Saracens a try bonus point and a 24-21 half-time lead.

It was a far more purposeful Bath side that emerged from the break, suddenly favouring quick line-out ball as Saracens’ discipline began to fray and Ted Hill’s surge to the line presented Obano with a try under the posts.

ADVERTISEMENT

There were still reminders of Bath’s power in the maul as Dunn found the try-line twice in four minutes to complete his hat-trick and all-but end Saracens challenge.

Although Vunipola weaved 60 metres to score a remarkable virtuoso try for the visitors, Chris Cloete featured twice in a line-out move to restore Bath’s 20-point lead, thanks to Spencer’s conversion.

Orlando Bailey then rounded off a length-of-the-field move and converted his own try, Bath’s eighth, as they passed the 50-mark before Ollie Lawrence raced away to touch down in injury time to complete the scoring.

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

Bath Rugby v Saracens - Gallagher Premiership - Recreation Ground

ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video

South Africa vs Black Ferns XV | Women's International | Full Match Replay

Play Video

Namibia vs United Arab Emirates | Asia/Africa Rugby World Cup Play-off | Full Match Replay

Play Video

Lions Share | Episode 5

Play Video

Classic Wallabies vs British & Irish Legends | First Match | Full Match Replay

Play Video

Did the Lions loosies get away with murder? And revisiting the Springboks lift | Whistle Watch

Play Video

The First Test, Visiting The Great Barrier Reef & Poetry with Pierre | Ep 6: The Ultimate Test

Play Video

KOKO Show | July 22nd | Full Throttle with Brisbane Test Review and Melbourne Preview

Play Video

New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

Comments on RugbyPass

S
SK 1 hour ago
Lessons the Wallabies must heed to turn Lions heartbreak into future success

Brett I love your fresh take on the picture that needed to be painted and ultimately wasnt. I agree there just wasnt enough in it for the ref to call it back and ultimately the ref was consistent the whole night at the breakdown. Australia are damned disheartened now but look how close it came to beating a team Campo said would thrash them by 30. This is the perfect prep for the Rugby Championship and the Boks and NZ. The Boks will be able to bring a scary pack to face the Aussies but it will be just as scary as facing these lads and so the Wallabies for me are making progress. They are not quite the finished article and the soft moments and tries and passive defence just proves it. Schmidt was brought in to make Australia better, he was brought in to make sure Australia improved in time for the Lions to avoid an embarrassment and look he has done that and taken them close so while the result is gutting its a job well done so far. lets see if they can take one step further and pilfer a test off these patchy Lions. Just a quick word on refs and the laws. Can we please tell World Rugby to simplify the game. At least 5 or 6 laws were examined in the wake of the last minute cleanout and several said Tizzano should have been pinged, others say Morgan should have been pinged. If former players and refs cant agree on what the right call was then it means the game is too complex. The refs have a clear mandate to let the game flow. I agree with that but the laws must support the refs. Right now they do not and leave too many holes for the refs to plug. The result is a furore after every major engagement between nations where the refs are abused.

35 Go to comments
I
IkeaBoy 2 hours ago
'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

I’m a proud Irishman with a weakness for the underdog. My only stake in the game was an Aussie win to take the series to a decider. Even overlooking the actual clear out - which was the only thing Piardi instructed the TMO to review - I think it’s very easy to be objective and say that Australia got done on the calls.


It’s a phase of play that unfolds in less than 10 seconds but is fairly easy to breakdown.


1 - Ryan (#19 Lions) is tackled legally, goes to ground in possession of the ball but makes no effort to release the ball. He has to immediately once he goes to ground. PENALTY.


2 - Tizzano (#21 Australia) is first man to the ball (from either team) and forms the ruck with his own hindfoot. Side entry doesn’t apply to him as the ruck is not formed at this stage but rather it’s formed by him. NO PENALTY.


3 - Even to completely ignore the actual clear out (penalty/no penalty), foul play can still have occurred without the need for a HIA. The fact that Tizzano is walking around and available for the next match doesn’t mean he didn’t get emptied. His mouthguard data does seem to have registered an almighty force though. 50/50.


4 - Both Morgan (#20 Lions) and Genge (#17 Lions) go to clear out but both do so by driving through the ruck off their feet and falling over the ball. Sealing. PENALTY


5 - I still don’t understand why none of the coverage picks up on this - Morgan holds Tizzano’s feet in a wrap on the pitch after the clear out. On the match clock it’s 79.03 to 79.07 before he releases. Playing the player off the ball. PENALTY


Piardi controls the narrative when reviewing with the TMO and starts on the wrong foot. The discussion is all on the basis that both sets of players arrive at the same time (which changes mitigation around foul play) which they don’t. They clearly don’t as Tizzano is first to the ball.


For 79 mins that match was brilliant. The crowd was brilliant. The atmosphere seemed brilliant. It’s a loss on the sport that a gang of mic’d up officials can not get it right.

179 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ 'Impossible not to be emotional': How Ian Prior came out of retirement to help Zimbabwe end Rugby World Cup drought 'Impossible not to be emotional': How Ian Prior came out of retirement to help Zimbabwe end Rugby World Cup drought