Not a lot to see here, you might think. Saracens top again, winning again, collecting maximum points again. Bath losing again. All so familiar. But the plot of this one had depth. And it ended in a cliffhanger, obviously, the seemingly vanquished rousing themselves against all odds. That idea really is a stereotype in the Premiership nowadays.
If this is the era of the comeback, Bath are as acquainted with strong finishes as anyone at the moment, even if they cannot quite consummate them. Ollie Lawrence, salvaged from the wreckage of Worcester, tore into Saracens, particularly in the second half. He made 254 metres, almost half of Bath’s total, and beat 11 defenders.
Those metrics kept Bath in the game. It seemed as they were in for a dramatic winning try at the death but the England captain, Owen Farrell, inspirational throughout, managed to get back to intercept Max Ojomoh’s inside ball and maintain the familiarity of outcome.
Saracens were not at their best but they started superbly. Less familiar is the sight of their team sheet without Alex Goode, as is occasionally the case these days, but for this match the club’s typesetter reverted to that most familiar cliche: “15 A Goode.” The same name was quickly entered into the try-scorer column, and the sheer class of the event itself was even more familiar.
Theo McFarland, whose status as Saracens cliche is surely on its way, charged down, Eliot Daly was on to it, and the speed of rucks and handling in the moments that followed were exceptional and beautiful in equal measure. Goode threw a dummy; the defence parted; over he strolled.
That was in the third minute, when one figured the plot of this narrative was looking as well worn as any trope, but Bath were not up for playing the parts expected of them. Their defence was energetic throughout and in Lawrence they had all the threat a team could need, practically a one-man show.
They briefly had the lead within a few minutes. It soon became apparent that Saracens, for all the ambition of their approach, were not quite on it this time.
“It was very disappointing performance by us,” said Mark McCall. “We had a lot of players who were happy to do the comfortable stuff and weren’t happy to do the small stuff that everybody needs. To do their job, to be honest.”
Phil Dowson said Northampton must be more clinical after they nearly let a commanding lead slip against Newcastle. Saints appeared to be cruising on two occasions, going 13-0 up in the first half and leading 32-14 at the midpoint of the second half, but failed to score again and three unanswered Falcons scores cut Saints’ lead to one point with nine minutes to play.
Ollie Sleightholme twice, Sam Matavesi, Tom Collins and Juarno Augustus crossed for Northampton, with James Grayson landing two conversions and a penalty.
Tom Penny scored two tries for Newcastle, with Mateo Carreras, Jamie Blamire and George Wacokecoke getting one each and Brett Connon making three conversions.
After his side clung on to win 32-31, the Saints director of rugby said: “It was frustrating that we had so many opportunities to put that game away, but we didn’t. We let them come back into it and it becomes a flip of a coin and we’ll get turned over at times like we did at Quins and at Sale. We’ve got to make sure we’re better in the last 10 minutes.
“We went in 14-13 down after being dominant in the first half and we’re not efficient enough at converting our pressure into points and we were too easy to score against. They are things we need to work on during the week.”
Dowson’s opposite number, Dave Walder, was left to rue a disastrous start to the second period that ultimately cost his side, who stay ninth in the table. Sebastian de Chaves and Ben Stevenson were sent to the sin-bin inside the first seven minutes after the break and Saints cashed in.
“I feel a slight frustration both with the inconsistency in the way we played and in terms of the way things were happening on the pitch,” he said. “The breakdown was a bit of a 50-50 call and a couple of things could have gone our way that didn’t at key moments.
“I’m not sure where Seb could go for his yellow but ultimately he’s got out of the way because that’s the law. Then, Ben Stevenson, it was a late change of direction because their back [Rory Hutchinson] put in a quick step.”
There was another thrilling game at Kingsholm, Gloucester winning 31-28 against Bristol. Adam Hastings’s 76th-minute penalty was decisive in a game of eight tries.
Gloucester’s head coach, George Skivington, said: “Pat [Lam, Bristol’s rugby director] and I spoke before the game about how, despite all the carnage in the background, the product on the field has never been better. I am sure for a neutral it was a great game. Not so much the coaches.”
Jordy Reid, Val Rapava-Ruskin and Freddie Clarke scored first-half tries for Gloucester, but Sam Bedlow, Piers O’Conor and Ellis Genge responded. Andy Uren’s try put Bristol ahead but Rapava-Ruskin crossed again, to set up Hastings’s winning moment.
Bath’s response to Saracens’ opener was facilitated by sloppiness from the home team. Goode, of all people, spilled a pass, and Matt Gallagher, once his understudy here, hacked on and scored.
An Orlando Bailey penalty earned Bath that lead but three penalties by Farrell before the break opened up a six-point advantage. And then the narrative unfolded as expected. Three Saracens tries followed, bonus point secured, home team 20 points in the distance, 37-17.
Max Malins’s interception of Quinn Roux’s pass was perfunctory but they all count. Lawrence, though, upped his game even higher and so nearly hauled Bath to victory by the denouement.
He ran through Alex Lewington and Daly down the right to set up Ojomoh a few minutes after Lewington’s try. Alas, a yellow card for D’Arcy Rae proved costly for the underdogs. His high tackle on Ben Earl was punished not just by the referee but by Daly, who picked a line off Farrell’s pass, following the attacking lineout from the penalty.
Lewington set up the 20-point lead five minutes later, after McFarland’s break released him to the line. But for the final quarter it was the Lawrence show. He broke again to turn the ball inside to Joe Cokanasiga for Bath’s third. Then he thought he had scored a try of his own from a Bath counterattack, but the TMO picked up a knock-on in the buildup.
Inside the last 10 minutes, Lawrence featured in interplay down Bath’s right, the prelude to Wesley White’s try which set up the gripping finale. It looked as if Ojomoh was away but Farrell intercepted and Saracens’ defence stood firm, just. Breathless stuff. Yet again.
