Bath v Saracens: Five takeaways as ‘Thomas the Tank’ sparks recovery while Itoje’s men restore ‘self-respect’
Henry Arundell scoring a try for Bath against Saracens.
Following Bath’s 31-22 victory over Saracens in the Investec Champions Cup, here are our five takeaways from the Recreation Ground.
The top line
Bath conjured a five-star comeback to beat Saracens and book a home quarter-final against Northampton after being ordered at half-time to ditch the fear by boss Johann van Graan.
An Investec Champions Cup thriller at the Rec was going the way of the visitors when they dominated scrum, lineout and breakdown to condemn Bath to their first pointless first half in four years.
It was then that Van Graan got stuck into his players, saying: “If there’s any fear about losing this game, throw the fear out. Let’s just go and be ourselves.”
The arrival off the bench of Thomas du Toit turned the tie on its head, building a scrum platform from which the English champions rebounded to ensure their first home knockout tie in the competition for 24 years ended happily.
The Blue, Black and Whites scored five tries in all – three in 15 minutes early in the third quarter – with the pick of them a length of the field effort by skipper, and former Saracen, Ben Spencer.
By the end, Henry Arundell (2), Joe Cokanasiga and Ollie Lawrence had also scored – trumping tries by Charlie Bracken, Max Malins and Noah Caluori.
Saracens restore self-respect
The last time Saracens were at Bath, just a fortnight ago in the Gallagher PREM, they led 10-0 then got buried beneath an avalanche of points. It was nothing short of a humiliation for the three-time European champions.
Two weeks later, they again opened up a 10-0 lead but this time refused to budge, staying in the fight heroically, led by outstanding captain Maro Itoje.
We had an idea that this performance was coming. Before kick-off, Jamie George, Saracens’ England hooker, spoke of the residual hurt from last month’s 62-15 mauling.
He admitted the Londoners got so much wrong that day, from tactics to discipline, energy to effort and, most alarmingly of all, fight. It was a stark admission which explained soon-to-be-boss Brendan Venter’s presence at the training ground in the week, “cranking things up”.
Speaking to Planet Rugby on the eve of the contest, former Bath star Anthony Watson sensed a backlash was in the air. “If I was a betting man, I would steer clear of this game,” he said. “There’s something about Saracens when they’re underdogs that makes them dangerous.”
Watson’s instincts were spot on. Saracens took the game to their hosts from the off, scrum-half Bracken sniping clear for a smart solo try after feigning to engage with a double wrap-around, then going himself.
Bath elected to play against the wind and were second best throughout the half, their scrum repeatedly failing as tighthead Archie Griffin endured a forgettable 40 minutes.
By half-time, they had conceded four scrum penalties, trailed by two scores, and an anxious Rec was starting to fear the worst.
Thomas the Tank sparks recovery
Two key things happened during the half-time interval, aside from Van Graan’s battle cry to his shaken stars.
The first was Du Toit replacing Griffin, the second Ben Connor taking over the whistle from Nika Amashukeli, who took an accidental blow to the head on 32 minutes when colliding with Josh Bayliss, and was not right thereafter.
The upshot was that the first half scrum ‘picture’ of Saracens dominance was erased. Not only was there a different pair of refereeing eyes seeing it, but the Springbok prop ensured a completely different look.
Connor, the son of former Ospreys fly-half Shaun, who in 2024 became the youngest URC referee aged 21, quickly made a name for himself by sending Bath’s other prop to the sin bin.
But Beno Obano’s harsh yellow did little damage as another meaty South African prop, in the form of Francois van Wyk, came on and helped shove Saracens pack back onto its heels.
This was no mean feat given the performances to this point of Rhys Carre, Itoje and Tom Willis. Arundell cut a great line to claim his first try, before Cokanasiga crossed on the other wing.
Old boy comes back to haunt Sarries
Big Joe’s try, from a Lawrence assist, put Bath ahead for the first time, but it was nothing like a decisive advantage. Indeed, Saracens should have regained the lead moments after.
Instead, a passage of play unfolded which turned the tide decisively in favour of the home side. Fergus Burke was tackled just short, but Andy Onyeama-Christie looked to be in, only for Bayliss to produce a try-saving tackle.
The ball popped loose and in a flash Finn Russell, with his back to play, flipped a pass to Guy Pepper, who released Alfie Barbeary, who, in turn, fed Spencer.
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Spencer spent nine years at Saracens. He made 172 appearances, won four Premierships, three Champions Cups and an Anglo-Welsh Cup. Faced with his former club’s try line, he did not hesitate, hitting the after burners and beating even Caluori to the corner.
It gets no easier from here
Bath are attempting to become the first club to win the European Challenge Cup and Investec Champions Cup back-to-back since Wasps 22 years ago.
But if they think beating Saracens is the hard part out of the way, they are likely to be mistaken. Next up are Northampton Saints, PREM leaders and thrilling Friday night victors over Castres.
Nobody out west needs any reminding of what happened the last time the sides met at the Rec in December. Saints scored 27 unanswered points in the second half to end Bath’s year-long unbeaten home league record.
It was THE away performance of the season, domestically speaking, and Bath will not wish to be reminded of it.
Van Graan will know that to avenge that loss and beat Northampton to a semi-final berth next Friday will require an 80-minute performance – not the 40-minute one which just got them past Saracens.