365 Sporting Days

I travelled to Stonex with some trepidation after last weeks match at Exeter, Bath Rugby and Finn Russell, gave a frisson of excitement, but fear too!

Russell can be imperious or he can have a kick charged down by Andy Christie who has speed to burn! He scored with 2 minutes on the clock, Alex Lozowski added the extras.

Then, he can pass out the back of his right hand to Tom de Glanville who ran down his wing to score! Rotimi Segun was injured and sitting right in the way of Russell for the kick which went left of the posts.

Bath were next over the line too through Miles Reid, after a great penalty kick to touch by Ben Spencer, a couple of moves in where Saracens didn’t deal with the incoming Bath players. The kick in front of the posts was converted.

Manu Vunipola starting at 10 put in what looked like a good tackle and after reviewing it frame by frame it was determined a good one, it took an age! Cousin Mako was captain for the day, an odd decision I thought, I’m not sure how much influence a prop can have a the game progresses and Mako has been known to upset Sir.

We’d had a lot of stoppages, including the protracted look at the Vunipola tackle, a scrum re-set after we’d had medics on saw a penalty awarded to Saracens. A good kick by Lozowski soared through the posts. Russell kicked the ball out from the kick off.

The resulting scrum was spun round and this time the penalty went to Bath. Phew for Finn! Bath’s next try was all about Ben Spencer, he put in an excellent kick for Ruaridh McConnochie on the wing who pretty much walked in. Saracens defence was far too narrow!

It’s always amusing to see the ref mark the spot for a scrum, on a 4g pitch, habit I guess! We had another wait for Marco Riccioni who had a bandage wrapped doing his head. The Bath 2nd rower Quinn Roux left for an HIA at the same time.

The next scrum spun round. and the penalty went the way of Saracens. The penalty was from a long way out, and missed.

Saracens weren’t clicking again and a penalty for off side was given away as Alex Davies kicked another, pointless high, and not very far kick That gave Bath a good attacking platform. Another for failing to roll away saw Russell take the kick at the posts, a simple kick it moved the score to Saracens 10 Bath 20.

The next lofted kick was knocked on by Bath, then the 9 was played, to give a penalty away. It was slightly disappointing that the posts option was taken, but it sailed through them and added the 3 points for Lozowski and Saracens.

Saracens did kick to touch for the next penalty, the kick was from their own half but Saracens were in the Bath 22, the throw, was not straight. So much for being in the 22! 3 collapsed scrums and the Bath 8, Alfie Barbeary came away with the ball. They put the ball out and the half time whistle went. Not a brilliant half of rugby for the home team, but an improvement on last week!

The teams came back in in teeming rain, Saracens lost their own line out early in the half, but Bath knocked on, the scrum was won by Saracens, Davies got the ball away well, and Segun had a good run. But the ball was knocked, Bath won a penalty from this collapsed scrum.

Bath made an unusual error and knocked the ball on from the line out. They won another penalty from the scrum. The Bath jumper seemed the miss the ball and it went to Theo McFarland, but it seemed it was knocked on, scrum. The scrum wheeled round and the ref raised him arm for Saracens, it took him a while to decide!

Davies kicked the ball high and Cockanasiga knocked the ball on. Scrum…. Scrum collapse, Saracens penalty.

The posts option was taken and happily it sailed through the posts, Lozowski had his kicking boots on.

Bath were awarded consecutive penalties and from the 2nd they went short and set up jurist maul. Thomas du Toit, was deemed to have scored after several attempts at the line. Russell kicked the ball to the left of the posts, but Bath had a 9 point lead.

Saracens won the line out ball shortly after the try, but knocked the ball on, scrum….. Bath penalty, the Bath Forwards surged ahead to win that one.

Bath knocked the ball on as they attacked and Saracens surged up the field through Nick Tompkins, Lozowski overran the pass and Bath had the ball back, and won another penalty.

Bath knocked on again and this time Vunipola kicked the ball up the pitch. We had some tooing and froing, resulting in a Saracens line out, then a Saracens penalty. The ball was lost, but the referee allowed play to continue. Alex Goode kicked the ball ahead, which was then marked.

A Saracens penalty a few moves later saw them lose their own line out, grrrrr, this was frustrating! Another scrum, another Bath penalty, I’d love to see the stats! Bath were awarded another penalty as they progressed.

McFarland disrupted the line out and Saracens were able to clear their lines. The throw was too far and Saracens came away with the ball. However the end result was a Bath penalty.

Saracens we’re awarded a penalty as the Bath players went across the line as they jumped. The Bath forwards had been taking an age to get to their own kind outs, something I thought was being stopped. At this point Saracens had given away 13 penalties to Bath’s 9. Make that 14, another was given away as I typed.

With the bell having tolled, Saracens had a final chance to get a losing bonus point. But not before a tackle by Chris Cloete on Tom Willis was checked, and checked. Cloete had gone down holding his arm, but he was also shirk a yellow card. Saracens lost the ball and it was kicked off. A good win for Bath, another loss for Saracens. More work needed on the training ground during the week.

Both teams looked rusty and it felt like the team that made the fewer errors would win and that proved to be the case. Bath Rugby were that team, they’ve had a couple of difficult seasons but with a couple of good signings and their home grown players it looks like this season might be a lot better.

Saracens have a fair few players still in France, that is undeniable but in th east the back ups have fared well. I wonder if I and other Saracens fans are at risk of having a sense of entitlement – I had a couple of heated discussions with my fellow Essex fans over the Summer when they dib’t do well in the 50 over competition, They did them finish 2nd in the County Championship however. Sport and teams go in cycles, it’s going to be interesting to see how this cycle goes for Saracens.