Bath denied even a bonus point

Alex ending Baths hopes
By saracenangel
April 4 2011

Beating Bath will probably be one of those moments where Mark McCall will finally become believable in the eyes of the Saracens supporters, along with the narrow, nail-biting victory against Leicester at Welford Road. It’s taken the best part of three months, but finally he’s won them over!

With the players working harder than usual to ensure a top 4 finish in the league to compensate for the Heineken Cup flop and the disappointment of the LV Cup, all their efforts have shone through and helped them to overcome the brute force and fast paced game that Bath Rugby threw at them. Eight wins on the trot is not a bad feat at all, in my opinion, especially since Mark McCall has only been the Sarries director of rugby since mid-January!

With the Sarries starting to make their sprint finish, as there are only three more league matches before the play offs begin, victory against Bath was pivotal in ensuring that Saracens are participating in them. This was especially true since Bath have a series of England internationals among their ranks, including Lewis Moody and Shontayne Hape. Bath are also pushing for a playoff position, but defeat to Saracens must have seriously dented their chances of making the cut. Steve Meehan surely must have wanted to finish the season on a high since he is leaving Bath in May.

Mark McCall selected a very strong squad for this match, with marked the return of Jacques Burger on the replacements bench after an eight week absence after a horrific knee injury. It also sees the return of Kelly Brown to the starting line-up after his Six Nations duty for Scotland. Neil De Kock and Justin Melck, however, were both ruled out of this vital encounter as a result of knocks sustained during the hard fought win against Newcastle last weekend.

David Strettle’s amazing first half try and 15 points from the boot of Alex Goode ensured that the Sarries maintained a stranglehold on second place in the Premiership table with just three matches of the regular season remaining, with a home semi-final very much in sight.

Bath fly half Butch James missed an opportunity to give the away side the lead with an early penalty. The Sarries, however, handled their chances well when in possession and the team had the ability to convert much needed territory into points more effectively than visiting Bath. When Saracens won an early penalty of their own from the scrum, Alex Goode was able to withstand the immense pressure and was able to step up from 40 metres out to give Saracens a 3-0 lead with 11 minutes played, which was to reflect what was to come for the rest of the match.

The backline of Saracens, but Owen Farrell in particular, prevented Bath from leaving their own half for the next 15 minutes. Bath full-back Nick Abendanon was kept very busy during the period which they must have found very demanding as the Sarries continued to push in order to extend their lead. In actual fact, they were able to withstand this immense pressure placed upon them up until the 23rd minute when Saracens won a crucial penalty just inside their own 22m line.

A big kick from Owen Farrell, which came as a result of this penalty, placed Saracens right in the heart of the Bath half. And the Sarries maintained the intense brutality of the game so far from the lineout and the backs were able to build phase after phase. This enabled them to reach all the way to Bath’s try line, who were unable to stand up to this consistent attack on their own line. As a result, the away team (in the form of the argumentative Butch James) infringed at a scrum to provide Alex Goode with another deserved opportunity to extend the Saracens lead to 6-0.

Bath, however, went on the attack and made two further trips into scoring territory. But it was at the second attempt, in the 35th minute, that they eventually opened their scoring account in this encounter with a well-earned penalty from departing South African fly-half Butch James. Shortly afterwards, the Sarries won a penalty and were forced further down the field yet again through the boot of Owen Farrell. This was to be one of the few scoring opportunities the Sarries would allow the away team to get.

Saracens required plenty of patience with the ball in hand, and again they started to mount pressure on the Bath defence. But rather than conceding three points, the visitors had to concede five when sharp hands from Man of the Match Matt Stevens put Brad Barritt on the upper hand. Barritt then fooled a defender to put David Strettle through a gap. Strettle had Bath full-back Abendanon to beat and his quick step put him outside the last defender (Matt Banahan) in order to touch down to show the crowd how successful his first season has been at the club so far.

The Sarries were incredibly dominant within the second half as a result. In fact, they were unfortunate not to score more when three successful breaks from David Strettle, Schalk Brits and Richard Wigglesworth took play to within yards of the line. Unfortunately, these chances were not taken effectively and Brad Barritt in particular had to count himself unlucky. This is because he seemed to be tackled without the ball as he tried to take an offload from Brits. It seemed as if Saracens wouldn’t score again for the duration of the match.

Eventually, it was left up to both fly halves, as James and Goode both converted successful penalties in the 56th and 57th minute to bring the scoreline to 14-6. Ten minutes later, both sides scored penalties again to make the match 17-9 to the Sarries with 11 minutes to play and the game still not technically won by either side.

And with Saracens permanently lodged within the Bath 22 for the final 15 minutes, it seemed like it would remain this way. However, Bath was forced into conceding one final penalty and it was pretty obvious that Saracens were not going to go quietly. Another successful kick from Alex Goode sealed Bath’s fate to ensure the club's eigth successive win going into a week's break in the competition. And this also means that Bath come out of the game with a third successive defeat, even though they put up a valiant fight throughout.

So, I am very, very proud of Saracens as they were able to withstand the immense brutality that Bath threw their way. This is proof that Mark McCall’s regime, whatever it may be is definitely paying off, and I am very happy to be part of a team that is on the back of eight successive victories in all competitions during his tenure so far. I hope this run will continue and that hopefully, we will be able to overcome our demons of last year and finally win the Aviva Premiership title.

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Chris Wyles, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 James Short, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Andy Saull, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Matt Stevens.

Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Petrus du Plessis, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Jacques Burger, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Adam Powell, 23 Noah Cato.

Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Matt Banahan, 13 Ben Williams, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Matt Carraro, 10 Butch James, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Luke Watson (c), 6 Ben Skirving, 5 Peter Short, 4 Stuart Hooper, 3 Duncan Bell, 2 Lee Mears, 1 David Flatman.

Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 David Wilson, 19 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 20 Guy Mercer, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Sam Vesty, 23 Jack Cuthbert.

Referee: Nigel Owens

Attendance: 9,531

Bath denied even a bonus point

Posted by: TheSaracens.com (IP Logged)

Date: 04/04/2011 21:15

A very impressive début! Thanks.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011:04:14:14:50:25 by Fozz1e.