With increasing speculation surrounding the future of Matt Stevens and Olly Barkley, it has at least been a comfort for supporters- after the departure of Steve Borthwick to the side Bath faced at Vicarage Road today- that players such as Joe Maddock and Pieter Dixon this week have committed themselves to the club and the vision it is building. With the focus on Matt Stevens and his fight for his England position as we go into the Six Nations, it was perhaps fitting that Stevens made his 100^th appearance for Bath today, and let us hope that such a milestone will help Matt recognise the importance in his place in the BBW of Bath. He and Lee Mears had quite good games today, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it pushes Mears into the starting spot for England next week.

With no Chris Jack and Neil de Kock having failed a fitness test, it did feel as if Bath would go into this game as marginal favourites. Matt Stevens sprinted out onto the pitch first as recognition of his 100^th appearance for Bath, but his fellow forwards faltered a little in the opening moments of the match, when David Barnes was penalised and the resulting lineout was marred by Danny Grewcock pinged for taking the man out in the air. A further kick down field did not advantage Saracens as the referee saw a knock on, and Olly Barkley kicked to touch. However, the ball was gathered by Sarries and when Bath were penalised for playing the ball on the floor, Glen Jackson kicked through the posts to give Saracens a lead of three points.

Saracens had dominated thus far, but Bath found their attacking flair initially through Matt Banahan and Nick Abendanon. A nice attack from Bath allowed Lee Mears, Michael Lipman and Stevens to show their skills, and Barkley had a chance to level points with a kick at goal, but seemed to have left his kicking boots back in Bath, and missed. A break from Shaun Berne, who had quiet but influential game, followed a period of attack for Saracens which resulted in a knock on. Michael Claassens took a quick penalty in Sarries 22; the ball was shipped to Banahan who was so close to going over the line. The resulting lineout, created after a kick from Barkley that was sent into touch instead of going for three points, was taken by Bath, and with a maul agonizingly close to going over the try line, it was a relief when the ball went through Bath hands to the other side of the pitch for Butch James to stretch over for a try.

James was injured in the act of scoring, and we heard later that he had dislocated his shoulder. He looked in real pain when taken off, and we can only hope that he recovers as soon as possible. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu replaced him, and although he did impress me a little today, James is undoubtedly one of the stars of Bath at the moment. Barkley’s usual you’d-put-your-mortgage-on-it kicking failed him again as he missed the conversion. However, with scavenging skills that any flanker in the world would be proud of, Barkley nicked the ball in the next Saracens attack that meant Bath won the turnover. The ball from a later lineout ended up with Brent Russell breaking through the defence and scoring a try. The conversion was taken by Jackson. Mistakes and missed chances were evident when Fuimaono-Sapolu ran some beautiful lines, but was unable to score in this manner, and Matt Banahan’s power and strength wasn’t enough to take him over the line either.

The Bath scrum immediately after was wasted when Daniel Browne knocked on. More knock-ons and frustrating mistakes in defence saw Chesney break through for Saracens, who was only stopped when Abendanon put in a powerful try saving tackle, and managed to steal the ball in the process. The referee had been playing advantage, so a Sarries scrum resulted, and then a penalty as Bath were penalised for going in at the side. Jackson took the 3, and the half time whistle blew. 

The first half had been somewhat scrappy from both sides, but Saracens came out fighting with an attacking lineout. Their knock on led to a Bath scrum which highlighted the struggling Claassens.

Claassens has had such a good season that it was a bit of a shock to see him and the Bath scrum creaking. Bath and Saracens traded knock ons and scrums and Haughton nearly broke through the Bath defence but the ball was moved away from Saracens when Berne kicked well up field to the 22m line. The ball came to Abendanon, and in what looked like a good attacking opportunity, Andy Higgins knocked on as he took his eyes off the ball.

After a Sarries lineout, Higgins atoned for his mistake with a break but a late tackle was either ignored or not seen by the referee. Lipman broke over the gain line and a sweet off load to Olly Barkley put the centre through a hole in the defence, and he sprinted to score a great try, and kicked the conversion to bring the score to 13-12. Another penalty against Bath- this time for not rolling away- was kicked by Jackson for 3 points.

After a nice break from Berne, the ball was lost forward, Jackson gathered and chipped, and the ball ended up in the hands of Russell who scored a try. The promise of Bath, and indeed the best part of their game today, was exhibited in some lovely breaks and runs, and the next was from Barkley after a good flat pass from Berne. Saracens were penalised for going in at the side, and Barkley kicked the 3 points. These were cancelled out a few moments later after a penalty for Saracens. Lipman was shoulder charged by Johnston in the run up to the next try by Jonny Faamatuainu who danced and spun in the far corner to go to ground for a try. Barkley missed the tricky conversion. Saracens won the ball after Bath tried to run from deep, and the clock was run down by the Saracens pack in the expectation that Jackson would be given the ball for a final minute drop goal to take the Bonus Point away from Bath. Thankfully for us, the ball was kicked straight into touch to end the game.

Bath’s away form had for so long been a weight around all of our necks, that it came as a relief this season when the team started to put together some wins on the road. That said, the last away leg in the Guinness Premiership was something of a disaster, with a loss to Wasps after a weakened team was fielded in preparation for the following week’s game for Gloucester. With this mind, this match was very important in the context of the whole season; wins away are essential if a team is to compete for end of season honours, and the Bath team had to start performing away from the Rec with team such as Sale, Leicester and Saracens breathing down their necks. As such it seems a real shame that Bath will have slipped a little in the Premiership and now enter a period when our England stars are away on International duty.

The gorgeous clean runs of our away victory against Newcastle seem something of a distant memory. Far too many mistakes and penalties seemed to be Bath’s undoing, and it was all round a rather scrappy and disappointing performance. It was a real shame that Barkley’s kicking deserted him today, as he had an otherwise good game, and it was those missed points that may have made the difference. With James injured, Barkley will probably step up to fly half for a while and given he was left out of the Six Nations squad, I’m sure he’ll be keen to impress. A bonus point was probably fair because of some great runs from Barkley, Berne and Fuimaono-Sapolu  and a few cracking tries, but this performance was not worthy of a team who are aiming to be in the play off spots come the end of the season, and with Butch James perhaps badly injured, at what cost was this bonus point? Let us hope that a week away in Tuscany, and some time off to clear their heads, makes the boys buck up their ideas a little. Third spot is great, but second would have been better.

 

 

Saracens: 15. Brent Russell   14. Richard Haughton   13. Adam Powell   12. Andy Farrell   11. Rodd Penney   10. Glen Jackson   9. Alan Dickens   1. Nick Lloyd   2. Fabio Ongaro   3. Cencus Johnston   4. Tom Ryder   5. Hugh Vyvyan   6. Kris Chesney   7. David Seymour   8. Ben Skirving   Replacements: 16. Andy Kyriacou   17. Tom Mercey   18. Paul Gustard   19. Donald Barrell   20. Ben Willis   21. Edd Thrower   22. Francisco Leonelli Morey

Bath Rugby: 15. Nick Abendanon   14. Andrew Higgins   13. Shaun Berne   12. Olly Barkley   11. Matthew Banahan   10. Butch James   9. Michael Claassens   1. David Barnes   2. Lee Mears   3. Matt Stevens   4. Steve Borthwick   5. Danny Grewcock   6. Andy Beattie   7. Michael Lipman   8. Daniel Browne   Replacements: 16. Pieter Dixon   17. Aaron Jarvis   18. Peter Short   19. Jonny Fa'amatuainu   20. Mike Baxter   21. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu   22. Michael Stephenson

 

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