Bath hammer Saracens to strengthen Premiership position

PREMIERSHIP WRAP: Mark McCall urged Saracens to use the pain from their record 10-68 English Premiership defeat on Saturday against Bath as fuel to get back on track.

The six-time English champions endured their worst ever loss in the top tier as leaders Bath ran riot at the Recreation Ground.

Saracens conceded 10 tries as they collapsed following the sending-off of loose forward Toby Knight after just 14 minutes, while Nick Isiekwe and Theo McFarland suffered game-ending injuries.

Saracens Director of Rugby McCall admitted the devastating loss was a major setback, but he still expects a strong response from his shell-shocked players.

“Today is a big moment because when these thunderbolts come along, it is how you respond to it which defines the rest of the season,” he said.

“The experience is ugly and horrible, to be honest. We were disappointed with how we reacted to being down to 14 men, but there were a lot of moving parts with the injuries we got.

“It is a younger group, and they are not accustomed to being on the back of something like that. It will sting for the weekend, but we have got to get back together.”

Bath earned an early penalty try before Thomas du Toit, Cameron Redpath and Will Muir touched down, while Finn Russell kicked three conversions.

Joe Cokanasiga scored two tries after the interval, with Ollie Lawrence and Sam Underhill also touching down as Muir completed his hat-trick, while Russell booted five more conversions.

Kapeli Pifeleti’s late try and a Fergus Burke penalty and conversion were no consolation for overwhelmed Saracens.

Bath are five points clear at the top of the Premiership ahead of a trip to reigning champions Northampton on January 5.

Northampton will be in fine fettle for that clash after Trevor Davison scored two tries against his former club in a 61-0 rout of Newcastle.

The Saints had lost their last three league games, leaving them well adrift of the pace-setters.

Davison inspired the response Northampton were looking for, with the champions running in nine tries at Franklin’s Gardens.

“We’ve had periods of this sort of quality throughout the season.

“We’re a very capable group, we just haven’t been able to do it more,” Northampton Director of Rugby Phil Dowson said.

Dan Cole’s last-gap try salvaged a dramatic 34-34 draw for Leicester against Harlequins in front of a capacity crowd at Twickenham.

Harlequins were on course for victory when Cadan Murley ran in the second of his two tries in the 69th minute.

But Leicester used their pack to pound away as Cole crept over with a minute left before Handre Pollard booted the crucial conversion in off the post.

See all the Saturday action below…

Bath v Saracens

Scorers

For Bath
Tries: Du Toit, Redpath, Muir 3, Cokanasiga 2, Underhill, Lawrence, Penalty try does not require a conversion
Cons: Russell 8

For Saracens
Try: Pifeleti
Con: Burke

Yellow card: Liam Williams (Saracens, 3′)

Red card: Toby Knight (Saracens, 13)

Bath: 15 Tom de Granville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 7 Guy Pepper, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Max Ojomoh, 23 Miles Reid

Saracens: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Tobias Elliot, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Olly Hartley, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Gareth Simpson, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Toby Knight, 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Jamie George, 1 Phil Brantingham
Replacements: 16 Kapeli Pifeleti, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Harry Wilson, 20 Nathan Michelow, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Sam Spink, 23 Angus Hall

Northampton Saints v Newcastle Falcons

Scorers

For Northampton Saints
Tries: Coles, Davison 2, Mitchell, Kemeny, Freeman, Pearson 2, Hutchinson
Cons: Smith 6, Hutchinson 2

For Newcastle Falcons
None

Yellow card: Fin Smith (Northampton Saints, 31′)

Teams

Northampton Saints: 15 George Hendy, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Tom Litchfield, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Henry Pollock, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Josh Kemeny, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Chunya Munga, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Henry Walker, 1 Tom West.
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Luke Green, 19 Temo Mayanavanua, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Jacob Petelo Mapu, 22 Archie McParland, 23 Rory Hutchinson.

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Louis Brown, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Connor Doherty, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Callum Chick, 7 Tom Gordon, 6 Freddie Lockwood, 5 Kiran McDonald Seran, 4 Sebastian de Chaves, 3 Richard Palframan, 2 Ollie Fletcher, 1 Murray McCallum.
Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Mike Rewcastle, 18 Callum Hancock, 19 John Hawkins, 20 Philip van der Walt, 21 Hugh O’Sullivan, 22 Jack Metcalf, 23 Oli Spencer

Harlequins v Leicester Tigers

Scorers

For Harlequins
Tries: Walker, Murley 2, Northmore
Cons: Smith 4
Pens: Smith 2

For Leicester Tigers
Tries: Hassel-Collins, Kata, Steward, Cole
Cons: Pollard 4
Pens: Pollard 2

Yellow card: Kata (Leicester Tigers, 37′)

Teams

Harlequins: 15 Nick David, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Luke Northmore, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Alex Dombrand, 7 Jack Kenningham, 6 James Chrisholm, 5 Dino Lamb, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Fin Baxter.
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Will Evans, 22 Will Porter, 23 Jarrod Evans.

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Mike Brown, 13 Dan Kelly, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Ollie Hassel-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 George Martin, 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Julian Montoya,1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: Charlie Clare, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Jed Holloway, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Joseph Woodward.