An amazing 70-yard try-scoring burst by Australian centre Tim Horan gave
Saracens a last-gasp victory and plunged Bath to their third successive Zurich
Premiership defeat of the season.
Beleaguered Bath looked to be heading for their first win of the campaign when
Saracens' forward substitute Kieran Roche, who had been on the pitch for only 12
seconds, was sin-binned for killing the ball near his own line.
Eighteen-year-old fly-half Olly Barkley kicked his fifth successive penalty
after suffering his first miss when he failed to convert Simon Danielli's try
four minutes earlier, to turn Bath's 17-12 deficit into a 20-17 lead.
But the 14-man Saracens had other ideas.
Fly-half Luke Smith cancelled out Barkley's penalty to level at 20-20 with two
minutes left on the clock.
Then, with the disgraced Roche cheering from the touchline, Saracens provided
a fiery finish to a match which had taken its time to ignite.
Bath substitute Mike Tindall had a kick charged down and Saracens' replacement
Nick Walshe made the break to send Horan racing clear in acres of space.
He exploited the huge gaps, producing a touch of the old Wallaby magic with a
weaving run and Bath never looked like laying a hand on him.
Smith put the icing on the cake to cap victory and a personal roller-coaster
goal-kicking afternoon after recording 100% strike rate with nine penalties and
a conversion in the previous week's 34-30 win over Gloucester.
Bath are left surveying the potential wreckage of their season after just
three matches of the new campaign - and a visit to Leicester to come next week -
while the Saracens' fans were celebrating their second victory in a row.
They had spent much of the afternoon taunting their former lock Danny Grewcock
who moved to Bath during the close season.
Grewcock became even more of a target for their annoyance after he was
involved in a high first-half challenge on former team mate Kyran Bracken which
sparked an eight-man forward punch-up.
Bracken, who had taken another heavy knock earlier and had failed to last the
first half against Gloucester a week earlier, left the action two minutes before
half time but his departure made way for the introduction of Walshe who had such
an effect on the final outcome.
The late thrill made up for a dour first half after which Bath led 9-3, with
three Barkley penalties to one by Smith.
Smith levelled the scores with two penalties in the opening nine minutes of
the second half but Barkley restored Bath's lead with a 40-metre penalty in the
52nd minute.
Saracens moved in front when a fine move involving Horan, Kevin Sorrell and
Darragh O'Mahony released Smith down the left.
He was tackled but popped the ball up for substitute Brett Sparg, who had only
been on for 10 minutes, to dive over in the corner.
Smith missed the conversion but increased the Saracens' lead 17-12 with a 62nd
minute penalty.
Bath responded when Nathan Thomas charged down Smith's kick and Tindall kicked
through for Danielli to collect, touched down and levelled the scores at 17-17
to set up the thrilling grandstand finish.
Teams:
Bath: D. Barnes, Regan, Mallett, Borthwick, Grewcock,
G. Thomas, N. Thomas, Lyle, Cooper, Barkley, Danielli, Cox,
Maggs, Thirlby, Balshaw.
Replacements: Long for Regan (70), Gabey for Grewcock (71),
Williams for Cooper (77), Tindall for Cox (51).
Not Used: Emms, Voyce, Scaysbrook.
Sin Bin: G. Thomas (63).
Tries: Danielli.
Pens: Barkley 5.
Saracens: Harbut, Russell,
Phillips, A. Benazzi, Murray, Hill,
Roques, Cole, Bracken, Smith, O'Mahony, Sorrell, Horan,
Shanklin, Winnan, Roche.
Replacements: Cairns for Russell (73), Roche for A. Benazzi (40), Roche for Murray (73),
K. Benazzi for Cole (26), Walshe for Bracken (40),
Sparg for Shanklin (50), A. Benazzi for Roche (40).
Not Used: Parkes, Arasa.
Sin Bin: Roche (74).
Tries: Sparg, Horan.
Cons: Smith.
Pens: Smith 5.
Att: 7,968
Ref: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales).
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