Bath squeak into champions cup quarters with thrilling win over saracens
Bath's Henry Arundell scored two tries to help his side squeeze into the Champions Cup quarterfinals with a 31-22 victory over Saracens.
Saracens' resurgence falls just short
Bath trailed 10-0 at halftime against a Saracens team that looked unrecognizable from the one crushed by Bath in the Premiership two weeks prior. But Bath's potent bench, led by Thomas du Toit, rallied the team to win.
Saracens pushed Bath all the way, and a late try from Noah Caluori set up a nervy finish. However, Arundell's second try of the match with the final play sealed the win and booked Bath's spot at home against Northampton next weekend.
Bath's impressive depth allows them to field two top-end sides, as seen last weekend's win at Sale with their 'B' team, and this week's outing with their 'A' listers.
A fortnight ago, Bath thrashed Saracens 62-15 at the Rec, a result that pointed to only one outcome. But Bath would have been wary, as Saracens have the ability to produce a big performance, as shown by their win over Toulouse in the pool stage.
In the first half, Bath's basics were off. Passes went to ground, and the lineout went astray. Even Finn Russell fumbled. Meanwhile, Saracens were impressively resolute, their maul defense especially strong, and Rhys Carré's power made the scrum a plentiful penalty source.
Saracens took the lead in the 14th minute through scrum-half Charlie Bracken, who fooled Bath's blind-side cover with a dummy and had the pace to race over. Bath lost Guy Pepper to the sin bin for cynical interference and Owen Farrell kicked a penalty while Pepper was off to give Saracens their halftime lead.
Bath's comeback began four minutes into the second half when Arundell came off his wing to take a lovely pass from Charlie Ewels and scorch through the Saracens defense for his first try. Caluori almost held him up, but Arundell wrestled the ball down to score.
More setbacks followed for Bath, including Beno Obano's sin binning in the 47th minute. But Barbeary made a hole in midfield for Joe Cokanasiga to outpace the first wave of cover before finding Alfie Barbeary, who sent Ben Spencer on his way to the line for Bath's third try.
Bath's next score came from their own line. Andy Onyeama-Christie spilled what would have been a scoring pass for Saracens, and in a flash, Bath were on their way. Pepper shipped the ball on to Cokanasiga, who outpaced the first wave of cover before finding Barbeary, who sent Spencer on his way to the line again for the fourth try.
Bath still had defending to do, though, as Saracens came again. Max Malins cut the deficit to four points with 14 minutes left with a good finish in the left-hand corner from Caluori's pass. But with Harry Wilson in the sin bin, Bath unleashed Ollie Lawrence through the middle for their fifth try.
Finally, though, the exhausted visitors ran out of numbers and Arundell went in at the corner after a relentless forward barrage.