MATCH REPORT | Saracens Men 16 - 25 Bath Rugby
Andy Christie marked his first Saracens Men’s start in seven months with a try but it wasn’t enough to stop Bath Rugby from securing a 25-16 win at StoneX Stadium.
The Men in Black couldn’t have wished for a better start when Christie charged down Finn Russell’s attempted chip over the top inside two minutes – the flanker gathering to score under the posts.
Alex Lozowski, in charge of kicking duties, duly converted the score to send the StoneX crowd into an early frenzy but that was to be short-lived as back came Bath two minutes later.
Scotland fly-half Russell, on his first start for Bath, spotted half a gap in the defence and released a sumptuous offload out the back for Tom De Glanville to score out wide.
The visitors then edged ahead as a strong carry into the 22 from centre Will Butt set up a good platform for his forwards to prosper with the Sarries defence scrambling – Miles Reid the one to burrow over.
Russell converted to give Bath a 12-7 lead but Sarries hit back to close the gap shortly after with Lozowski nailing a penalty won at scrum time.
Some smart play from Ben Spencer gave Bath their third score of the afternoon, the former Saracen spotting space out wide and delivering a pinpoint cross-field kick to Ruaridh McConnochie.
The winger still had work to do after gathering the kick right out on the left wing but the covering defence wasn’t able to stop the score.
Lozowski and Russell then traded penalties as Bath ended the half a converted score ahead at 20-13 just as the rain began to fall heavily in North London.
The conditions made for a much tricker second half, Sarries started the stronger though and moved to within four points when Lozowski kicked his third penalty of the afternoon.
Both sides made entries into the other’s 22 but it was Bath who were more clinical and capitalised for their fourth score when Thomas du Toit went over from close range just before the hour.
With the rain falling heavily the final quarter became a game of chess, mainly between the kickers as Spencer and Gareth Simpson put boot to ball.
But Sarries just couldn’t find that extra bit of quality to breach the Bath defence and the visitors were able to see out the game to leave the champions winless after the first two rounds.
