SO CLOSE ..AND YET SO FAR AWAY
By TheSaracens.com
December 1 2025
So close, so close and yet so far away. That was what hurt. We could, maybe we should, have won this. The Sarries of old would have found a way to beat a Bath team that was some way below their best yet once again we didn’t get the job done.
It was all going so well. As the smoke from the fireworks finally cleared, Sarries went ahead with a lovely exchange between Max and Cinti and Max was over in the corner. Better still Owen landed the extras (with the posts still obscured by a combination of smoke and low sunshine). Rugby can be a very simple game! The first scrum saw a Bath penalty – a bit ominous – but Gonzalez and McFarland almost got a second before some sterling Bath defence made Sarries work for it but eventually Gonzalez finished the move he started for try number 2. Once again Faz converted. 14-0 and not out of the first quarter! Bath got 3 points back with a penalty kick (which was in itself a result as they went for the points rather than the corner) but in no time a lose pass by Van Zyl was intercepted by rugby’s answer to Usain Bolt, Henry Arundell, who ran the length of the pitch to score. Russell converted and Bath were back within 4. More significantly Willis was clearly struggling with what looked like a back injury and he departed to be replaced by Isiekwe. Suffice it to say we missed him!
Finn Russell, who had a bit of a Curate’s Egg of a game, managed to put a Bath penalty over the dead ball line. Sarries won a penalty (they seemed unhappy with the Bath challenge but it wasn’t reviewed – can’t help but think the TV’s missed a trick here, instead of replaying the incident they showed a load of fans making idiots of themselves for the cameras!) Daly put the ball in the right place but not for the first time Sarries lost the lineout however Daly got a 2nd chance and this time Dan came off the back of the ruck and almost scored. The forwards kept driving while Max was screaming his head off, alone on his wing. Eventually his calls were heeded and he scored in the corner. Faz missed the kick but 19-10 was looking good and even better when Faz dropped a goal for 22-10.
As half time approached, Bath let Sarries off the hook with an overthrown lineout but another Bath penalty and another chance, this time they got it right and the maul was unstoppable with Du Toit scoring in the corner and another good conversion from Russell. 22-17. We were definitely on the wrong side of Mr Ridley – all the 50/50’s seemed to go Bath’s way but that’s how it is sometimes!. Just before half time Sarries won a penalty. Instead of kicking the points they went for the corner and the whole thing nearly went very wrong. Arundell looked like adding a 2nd try but the ball was just turned over too close to the try line for safety and Sarries managed to find touch.
What a shame it couldn’t end there! An entertaining half, lots of enterprise from Sarries and a definite policy to kick the high ball to Noah which worked initially as he was attracting at least 2 defenders but as the game went on, Bath worked it out and started to get the better of the kicking game.
We watched a rather bizarre game of giant skittles (why?) before the game restarted. The 3rd quarter was something to forget. Bath had scored their equalising try while Sarries were still, mentally at least, drinking their half time tea. A series of Bath penalties and eventually they tapped one from close in and Butt scored. Mawi replaced Carre. Russell missed the conversion so it stayed 22-22. Not for long though, Spencer broke free and offloaded to Arthur Green who scored in the corner. Another nice kick from Russell and Bath were ahead for the first time in the match.
Credit to Sarries though, they stayed in the fight. Dan and Riccioni departed for Hadfield and Street and the scrum looked more secure. Sarries took a quick penalty and after several attempts Faz saw Noah out on the wing. The cross kick looked inch perfect and Noah scored – or thought he had. There was a lengthy examination by the TMO and eventually the officials found a reason to disallow the “try”. Undaunted, Sarries took a tap penalty and this time Gonzalez went over for his second. Faz converted and we were level with just over 10 minutes left. Bath made wholesale changes while Charlie Bracken replaced Van Zyl for Sarries.
The last 10 minutes were pretty error strewn to be honest. Sarries had chances but messed them up. Hall replaced Noah and Burke replaced Cinti and we resorted to the kicking game which Bath were now winning easily. Sarries incredibly won a penalty at the scrum dead centre on half way. One for Daly surely? Up he stepped but his kick was wide. Before we knew it Arundell was once again legging it down the left wing for his 2nd try. Russell again converted and with just minutes to go Bath were back in front. Even then Sarries might have levelled it but 2 successive knock-ons and Bath ran down the clock and kicked the ball out. I guess we should take some credit that they were keen to end it and didn’t try and take our loosing bonus point away!
What was so frustrating was that we could have won this one. Bath were not at their best but they took their chances whereas Sarries didn’t. Both line-outs were pretty bad (Sarries would have been even more woeful were it not for Theo McFarland’s long arms and huge hands!) Theo Dan is exasperating. No matter how good he is in the loose, a hooker only has to do 2 things and Dan is hopeless at one of them! We got on the wrong side of the ref again (which meant a lot of 50/50’s went the wrong way) and we were probably lucky no one got carded. And 2 things were worrying at the end: we didn’t seem to be as fit as Bath (there was a time Sarries were the fittest team in the league but not now) and yet again we didn’t seem to have a plan B! Once Bath worked out how to deal with Noah we still kept kicking! We missed Maro, even more when Willis went off. And we missed Jamie: these guys aren’t just great rugby player, they are great leaders and in those last 10 minutes, leadership was lacking.
Anyway lets look on the bright side, we got 2 points against the best team in the league but we still have a lot of catching up to do if we are to finish in the top 4.
SARACENS:
Daly, Caluori, Cinti (Burke), Tompkins, Malins, Farrell, Van Zyl; Carre (Mawi), Dan (Hadfield), Riccioni (Street), McFarland, Tizard, Gonzalez (Wilson), Earl, Willis (Isiekwe)
BATH:
De Glanville, (Redpath), Cokanasiga, Harris (Ojomoh), Butt, Arundell, Russell, Spencer; Obano (Van Wyk), Dunn (Frost), Du Toit (Stuart(, Roux, Ewell (Molony), Bayliss, Reid, Green (Hill)
Scorers
Saracens (29) Tries: Malins (2), Gonzalez (2); Convs: Farrell (3); Drop Goal: Farrell
Bath (36): Tries: Arundell (2), Du Toit, Butt, Green; Convs: Russell (4); Pen: Russell
Referee: Christophe Ridley
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:12:16:18:16:37 by Darraghgirl.
The "Zorb" thing has been popular at Chiefs for a while at half time although they play football rather than skittles. I guess because it's very visual the idea is supporters will like it.
I think you hit the nail on the head re taking 2 points away from a game against the best team in the League. Before the game I'd have been very happy with that and parking the lost opportunities it is still a decent result.
I agree about our players who would have made a difference although Bath obviously would have had a few of their own including an entire starting backrow.
I guess the question is can we distil and build on the best elements of the first 40 where we played some really good rugby. Hopefully we can.
In retrospect it reminded me of the Saints match at the end of last season. We were clearly revved up before the match and put everything into that first half. V Saints we were further ahead though and being only 5 points ahead in this match at half time was a huge psychological boost for Bath. It’s an easy talk for Van Graan- we’ve just been dominated but we’re still in the game.
To state the obvious Willis going off was big not just for losing him but hampering our ability to deal with their subs later in the game.
I think I see some growth, particularly in our attack. We seem to be looking to offload a lot more and play to our strengths of speed and skill, it’s getting close to clicking against the better teams. That may being having an impact on our defence in the short term.
I also agree with you about being further ahead in the first half, if the ref decides that Noah was tackled in the air and the interception was called back for no advantage and we manage to squeeze another try with the penalty before the break... small margins. That said, although there was vigorous debate in the stands around me if we should've kicked the points on that penalty I strongly agree with the team about going for the try there - we clearly needed more points and three was not going to be enough at the end of the game. It didn't work out but I liked the process, something to think about in terms of how we can get throwing strategies that work better when you *know* the opposition is going to jump in front of the most obvious jumper.
Do you know if I can rewatch that zoom with Dai? I currently have a lot of time on my hands!
Sure he has wobbles, but it is down to lifting and timing too. You don’t stay in the England squad if you can’t do your day job.
Quote:TommyKentish
I agreed with the call to go to touch before half time. I’ve lost count of the amount of times at home that we’ve scored a try just before half time and it completely changing the match
A very easy kick puts us more than a converted try ahead and returns some lost momentum.
I think if the lineout and maul were already purring then it makes more sense.
That said if you go for the corner and score you have the extra points plus the lift of putting a TBP on the Champions before HT which would have returned momentum and then some.
As always there's some confirmation bias when looking at that choice and Daly's long kick. If we'd banked 10 points from both they would have absolutely been the right calls!
But in a one off game Bath with Ojomoh & Lawrence in the centres, Carreras on the bench, Finn out of 4th gear and their first choice back row (the back row on Sunday wasn’t bad!) will be a different proposition!
Their big rebuild is now 4 seasons in and the majority of the signings were completed in the first season with very little noticeable attrition since.
That gives you a very stable side who have had a decent period of time to get very comfortable with each other and the way JVG wants them to play.
You could suggest that we're into the second season of our rebuild and arguably not yet as clear of purpose and fluent of execution as Bath were at that stage and certainly are now.
I've been encourage by the talk from the coaching staff, the new attack coach in particular regarding playing at a quicker tempo and keeping the ball alive. That we're trying to do the former is obvious. The later we're seeing in flashes and I'm sure we'll see more as players get more comfortable with each other and confidence builds.