Bath 12-15 Saracens: Sarries edge thriller at The Rec as Gallagher Premiership play-off race takes another turn

Owen Farrell scored a winning penalty as Saracens battled to a narrow 15-12 victory against Bath to leapfrog their opponents into second place.

With stakes high in the Gallagher Premiership clash, Bath came back from 12 points down at half-time to level the match.

However, Farrell completed a man-of-the-match performance with a signature penalty under the posts three minutes from time.

The Saracens fly-half was influential from the start and sent a searching pass for Tom Parton who opened the scoring.

Farrell then sent an elegant chip over for Rotimi Segun to score a second Saracens try as they led by 12 points at half-time.

However, cheered on by their home fans, Bath staged a second-half fightback pilling pressure on last year’s championship winners.

The floodgates eventually opened for Thomas du Toit who grounded the ball amongst a mass of bodies.

Then seconds after coming on, Bath replacement Cameron Redpath pulled his side level with 18 minutes left.

However, Saracens showed their experience by turning the momentum and when Farrell was given a late penalty opportunity, he gratefully kicked the winning points.

Despite looking far from superior against a Bath side spurred on by their home fans Saracens showed what it takes to be champions.

After fighting back from 12 points down to level the match in the second half Bath looked likely to score the winning points late on.

However, Saracens dug in and turned the momentum. After putting sustained pressure on their opponents in the last 10 minutes the reigning champions got their rewards with a late penalty.

The 32-year-old will leave Saracens this summer after signing a lucrative deal with Racing 92. The fly-half will take some stopping as he looks to end his Saracens career with a seventh Gallagher Premiership crown.

Two pieces of excellent play resulted in first half tries for his side and then he calmly kicked the winning penalty at the death.

Bath Rugby: Gallagher 6, Cokanasiga 7, Lawrence 7, Ojomoh 6, Muir 6, Bailey 6, Spencer 8, Obano 6, Annett 6, Stuart 6, Roux 6, Ewels 6, Hill 7, Underhill 7, Barbeary 7

Replacements: Dunn 6, Du Toit 7, Griffin 6, Du Plessis 6, Bayliss 7, Schreuder 6, Redpath 7, Coetzee 6

Saracens: Daly 7, Segun 7, Cinti 7, Tompkins 7, Parton 7, Farrell 8, Davies 6, Mawi 6, George 6, Judge 6, Itoje 7, Isiekwe 7, Gonzalez 7, Earl 7, Willis 7

Replacements: Dan 6, Vunipola 6, Riccioni 6, Tizard 6, Vunipola 6, Knight 6, Van Zyl 6

12 - TRY! BATH RUGBY 0 SARACENS 5 (PARTON) - Saracens score with their first drive at the Bath line. Firstly Cinti breaks through before being held up metres from the line. The ball is then pulled out wide by Farrell with a long pass for Parton to score in the corner. The conversion is wide.

30 - YELLOW CARD FOR ITOJE - Itoje is shown yellow after going in very high on Barbeary resulting in a clash of heads. The crowd don’t like it as it was a big high-speed impact. It’s not a red as the referee judges that it was not flush contact. Farrell is very wound up about the decision but Saracens are down to 14 men.

40 - TRY! BATH RUGBY 0 SARACENS 12 (SEGUN) - Saracens score a second try before the break with 14 men after breaking forward and then being held up. However, comes back out and is chipped over the top by Farrell for Segun to score in the corner. Farrell converts.

44 - TRY SAVING TACKLE - Parton with an excellent run which looks to have broken the Bath defence. However, Cokanasiga is back and despite being off-balance does enough with a last gasp tap tackle to deny his opponent.

56 - TRY! BATH RUGBY 5 (DU TOIT) SARACENS 12 - Du Toit eventually gets over the try-line as Bath pile on the pressure with Barbeary going close and then his team-mate dives over from close range among a host of bodies. The conversion is missed.

64 - TRY! BATH RUGBY 12 (REDPATH) SARACENS 12 - Seconds after coming on as a replacement a line-out results in Redpath carrying the ball over the whitewash from the back of a drive. Spencer kicks his side level.

78 - PENALTY! BATH RUGBY 12 SARACENS 13 (FARRELL) - Saracens pile on the pressure metres from the try-line before Du Plessis comes in from an off-side position to concede a penalty. Farrell kicks for posts and kills some time before making it 12-15.

Between the sides 78 kicks from hand were made with 42 coming from Saracens and 36 by Bath Rugby

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