By Jason Harris
April 15 2003

Saracens will take a narrow eight point lead into the second leg of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup semi-final tie with Bath after they beat the Westcountrymen 38-30 at Vicarage Road. But it could have been very different had the Men in Black kept the 22-point gap between the teams after 60 minutes. Sarries got off to a shaky start when Bath took an early 10-0 lead. Tom Voyce scored a try after Brett Sparg's speculative interception attempt left him isolated and the Bath wing unimpeded on his way to touch down at the posts. Olly Barkley converted and added a penalty before Sarries woke up from their slumber and got themselves back into the game.

Kyran Bracken was the catalyst for the home side's opening try after he showed great vision when putting up a box kick for Richard Haughton to chase down the right hand touchline. The Sarries wing gathered the ball at pace and raced 40 metres to the line to score. Niki Little added the conversion and two penalty goals to give Sarries a 13-10 lead at the end of a fairly ordinary first half.

By way of contrast, the second half was a points fest, started by Sarries as they ran Bath ragged in the third quarter. Tries from Sparg, Johnston and Shanklin plus two conversions and a penalty from Little catapulted them into an unassailable 35-13 lead.

But despite showing touches of brilliance at times, the Men in Black (wearing their red European apparel)went back to sleep in the final 20 minutes. Bath Cult hero Elvis Seveali'i, the Samoan threequarter who bailed his side out with a spectacular last-gasp try to win their crunch match against London Irish, struck twice in the dying minutes. Barkley converted both and added a penalty to narrow the gap to just five points.

Sarries looked as wobbly as their once seemingly invincible lead has become and it was fortunate for them that Andy Goode held his nerve at the end of the game to slot home a penalty goal to make the final score 38-30.

A disappointing crowd of just over 6,400 witnessed the first Saracens win in three months and the second leg at the Rec on 26 April will not be one for the faint-hearted.