England international and Bath captain Danny Grewcock could face three months on the sidelines following a violent clash with Saracens skipper Kyran Bracken.
The forward, who once shared a flat with his England team-mate, appeared to viciously boot Bracken in the face during the Watford side's 28-3 win at Vicarage Road.
The fracas came just before the break and despite Saracens' Craig Yandell's attempts to restrain Grewcock the second row forward still managed to do enough damage to force Bracken off the field nursing a bloodied jaw.
The incident happened directly in front of the touch judge, leaving referee Steve Leyshon with no hesitation but to red-card the England international.
Grewcock will now have to face an RFU disciplinary panel faced with a charge that can carry an 84-day ban. If found guilty not only will it be a bitter blow for Bath but he will also be excluded from the autumn internationals against New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.
Scrum-half Bracken managed to return to the field at the start of the second half donning a large plaster, but by then his side had done enough to secure victory.
Bath's Olly Barkley scored the first point of the game with a fourth-minute penalty but forward Ben Russell soon put the home side ahead with a 14th minute try.
The score came following an impressive forwards display. Bracken looked like he'd done enough to score, darting left of a ruck but having been brought down Russell kept the momentum going to score. Andy Goode converted and then added
two penalties.
Frenchman Thomas Castaignede then gave Saracens a comfortable 18-3 lead with a 39th-minute try. He scored on the right wing after the home side had barraged Bath's defence.
Goode missed the conversion but soon gave Saracens a 21-3 lead with a penalty courtesy of Grewcock's red card.
The tempo of the game in the second half died down but the tempers certainly did not. On two further occasions, Leyshon consulted his touch judges because of incidents between the two teams but Saracens substitute Joe Ross rounded off the afternoon with a third try after 77 minutes converted by Goode.
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