The Sarries team showed 6 personnel and two positional changes in the scrum with only Ches and Gussie present but this time in the 6 and 8 roles. Behind the scrum NDK was injured and replaced by Mosese with the rest of the backline initially the same as the semi final, however Delboy was to injure himself during the warm up to be replaced by Scabs with Frankie moving to full back and Scabs the wing.

As outlined by Steve Meahan in the programme nobody knew what Sarries team, if any would turn up. There could either be champagne rugby played by squad and fringe players to impress EJ which would be a dangerous game for Bath to get pulled into, or we would get a Saracens team hung over from last weekend who couldn’t be asked with nothing left to play for! What we got was a Bath team at the top of their game who ruthlessly exposed the tiredness and sloppiness of the Sarries outfit. Bath ran in 6 tries in the first half to no reply from Sarries resulting in a half time score of 45-0. Saracens would have struggled to stay with Bath even fresh and at full strength but they fell off tackles, dropped balls etc and those errors were ruthlessly exposed. Unfortunately, several of the main culprits hadn’t actually played last week so didn’t really have an excuse.

After the break the Sarries team had been freshened by the introduction of Cairnsy for Ongaro and Seymour who replaced Fullarton with Ches moving to the second row. Sarries started much brighter but whether that was a result of Bath dropping their intensity was not clear; and for the beleaguered Sarries supporters - we didn’t care, we were happy to live off the scraps! First, Adam Powell, who didn’t stop trying all evening, ran in an interception from half way and then Yatesy, making a rare start this term, powered over from close. Bath then woke up and, aided by poor tackling by Sarries, powered back with two tries of their own. The idea that Bath had relaxed was somewhat undermined by the sin binning of Butch James when he illegally stopped another Sarries attack.

Sarries carried on attacking and eventually a strong run from Kameli resulted in another Sarries score. However, in tune with the context of the evening Sarries were penalised from the restart and Higgins ran in a final and 9^th try for Bath! Final score Bath 66 Saracens 21.

So, were there any positives for Saracens from the match or did it really matter? In my opinion yes it did matter. A significant number of Sarries supporters had paid a not insignificant amount to come and support Saracens and on that performance we were turned into jokers, bantering with the friendly Bath crowd and acting the fools.

Positives? Not many. Powell again looked good and tried his best, Kameli and Ches tried hard. Negatives? Again a few, but mainly that Sarries really lack in depth. On our day, with our top 15/22 out, we can compete with the cream of Europe, step forward Biarritz, Ospreys and Munster; but once we start dipping into the wider pool we cannot compete with the top teams. There were a couple of players today who I’d be happy not to see in Sarries colours again. Also the match was televised and what will a performance like that make potential new supporters, won from last week, think?!

You have to feel sorry for the Gaffer, who I feel has done so much for the Club, who was in tears last Sunday, having never felt so devastated after losing a semi final, to having 66 points put on his team (which he says is a record for him!) Not a record he or I wanted!

And so to Bath – they looked very good and efficiently put a poor Sarries team to the sword and, at home at least, will be a handful in the play offs. In particular Olly Barkley was very good and will be missed next year by the Bath faithful ( the Sarries faithful will be welcoming with open arms Steve Borthwick who was excellent also). What price Bath being in the market for Toby Flood as a like for like replacement for Barkley!

Well, I enjoyed aspects of the trip to the Rec the crowd were friendly, the setting nice though the midges off the river were a pain and we saw some great play from Bath! I hope that Sarries put on a better show next week against Bristol, to at least send those supporters who are going to the Annual Dinner with something to smile about at the start of the evening!

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