Bath 12-15 Saracens, The Recreation Ground
Owen Farrell kicked the decisive penalty goal in the closing stage as Saracens edged out Bath Rugby 15-12 in the latest round of the Gallagher Premiership at The Recreation Ground on Friday.
The result meant Saracens have moved to the second position in the table with 51 points while Bath are at third place with 50 points.
Saracens made a bright start to the game as a looping pass from Nick Tompkins allowed Tom Parton to go over the line in the 11th minute but Farrell missed out on the conversion.
The visitors were down to 14 players temporarily as Maro Itoje was sin-binned for a high tackle leaving them with 14 players for the final 10 minutes of the opening half.
Despite the setback, the visitors extended the lead with a crossfield kick from Farrell was collected by Rotmi Segun, who went over in the corner for their second try. Farrell also got the conversion right as Mark McCall's men completed the opening with a 0-12 lead.
Bath managed to struck back 15 minutes into the second half when Thomas du Toit bundled over and shortly Cameron Redpath dived over at the back of the maul for their second try as the scores were levelled.
The decisive moment came in the 77th minute when Bath infringed at offside and Farrell kicked the penalty to perfection to complete a thrilling win.
Team line up:
Bath: Gallagher; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Ojomoh, Muir; Bailey, Spencer (c); Obano, Annett, Stuart, Roux, Ewels, Hill, Underhill, Barbeary.
Reserves: Dunn, Du Toit, Griffin, Du Plessis, Bayliss, Schreuder, Redpath, Coetzee.
Saracens: Daly; Segun, Cinti, Tompkins, Parton; Farrell (c), Davies; Mawi, George, Judge, Itoje, Isiekwe, Gonzalez, Earl, Willis.
Reserves: Dan, M Vunipola, Riccioni, Tizard, B Vunipola, Knight, Van Zyl, Goode.
Widely regarded as the most competitive rugby union league in the world...it can only be the Gallagher Premiership.
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