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Farrell on form as Saracens make inroads into points deduction

Saracens' Billy Vunipola is tackled by Bath's Max Wright at the Rec (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

England captain Owen Farrell kicked 20 points on his return to club duty as Saracens began to chip away at their daunting Gallagher Premiership points deduction with a 25-12 win at Bath.

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The champions came to the Rec at near full strength for the first time since accepting their 35-point deduction and £5.4million fine for breaching salary cap rules. Bath had plenty of territory but lacked the kind of quality possession that Saracens created for the game’s only try, finished off by wing Sean Maitland on 33 minutes.

Maro Itoje and Billy Vunipola were also making their first appearances for Saracens since the final on November 2, while Elliot Daly made his debut at full-back following his move from Wasps in the summer.

The home side, hampered by knee injuries to skipper Charlie Ewels, England wing Anthony Watson and number eight Zach Mercer, handed the captaincy to World Cup winner Francois Louw. Sam Underhill, another of the tournament’s eye-catching performers, joined him in the back row.

Disappointing in the first two rounds of the Heineken Champions Cup, they were looking to recover the form that yielded morale-boosting home wins over Exeter and Northampton. They had won the last three meetings in the league against Saracens.

(Continue reading below…)

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Priestland kicked Bath into an early lead after Mako Vunipola was penalised at a Saracens scrum put-in. Farrell levelled the scores on 10 minutes only for Priestland to kick his side back in front from short range. With referee Karl Dickens strictly policing encroachments on the offside line, Farrell made it 6-6 on 17 minutes.

Bath generated a lot of the steam rising off the two packs in the cold night air. They won plenty of rucks but never slickly enough and the only reward for a long spell of pressure was a third penalty for
Priestland after Daly’s no-arms tackle on Semesa Rokoduguni.

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The 9-6 lead was short-lived as Saracens suddenly added power and pace to their game and Itoje made a telling burst in midfield. Quick ruck ball found Maitland in space on the left wing and the Scotland international touched down after a sublime sidestep.

Farrell converted and added a 40-metre penalty which gave the visitors a 16-9 advantage at the break.

There was a lucky escape for Bath soon after the restart as they tried to run the ball out from their own line and Rokoduguni’s clearance kick was charged down. Saracens kept the pressure on and Farrell landed his fourth penalty.

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Full-back Tom Homer offered a glimpse of attacking potential with a searing 60-metre break but Saracens scrambled back to kill the threat. Priestland and Farrell then swapped penalties again to make it 22-12.

A tiring Bath were being regularly penalised at the breakdown, whether in possession or defending, and Farrell landed a sixth penalty.

A yellow card for cynical play ruled Itoje out of the last nine minutes but Bath could not earn even a losing bonus point.

– Press Association

WATCH: Going Pro, the RugbyPass documentary on Saracens Women’s rugby team as they defend their Premiership title

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
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