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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 3^rd 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 2^nd 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