Yahoo News Bath Rugby book home semi-final against Sale Sharks with comfortable rout of Northampton Saints
Bath Rugby will return to the Recreation Ground in a fortnight to compete the semi-final of the Gallagher Premiership after a comfortable 43-12 win over Northampton Saints ensured they could capitalise on Saracens slipping up at home to Sale Sharks on the final day of the regular season.
All four clubs will advance into the play-offs, with Saints boss Phil Dowson having rested the majority of his first XV for the trip to the Recreation Ground, his reward for that decision is a visit from the defending champions Saracens on Friday, May 31. Bath will host Sale the following day at 3.30pm after the Sharks put in one of the performances of the season to win 20-10 at the StoneX Stadium to shut out Bristol from the top four despite a stunning 53-28 win away at Harlequins by the Bears.
Bath rose to the occasion on Saturday with a six-try demolition of leaders Northampton, touching down through Josh Bayliss, Will Muir (2), Tom Dunn, Ben Spencer and Alfie Barbeary, with the visitors breaching the defence twice through James Ramm and Tom Seabrook.
Player of the match Josh Bayliss wasted no time in justifying his selection at number eight ahead of Alfie Barbeary, as Bath shoved the Saints scrum over the line after just seven minutes, with Finn Russell adding the conversion.
With rather more changes in their line-up, the Premiership pacesetters were unsettled by Bath’s aggressive defence and left wing Will Muir forced Ollie Sleightholme into a rushed clearance into touch from outside his 22. From the line-out, the home side used Cameron Redpath as a decoy and Russell delayed his pass with perfect timing for Muir coming off his wing to gallop untouched to the try line. Russell’s conversion gave Bath a 14-0 lead on the quarter hour.
Centre Tom Litchfield knocked-on under the Bath posts shortly after but Saints were awarded a penalty at the scrum. They were not interested in kicking points, thought, and repeatedly opted for a kick to the corner as Bath continued to infringe, especially at the breakdown. Russell, happy to play a pragmatic game when necessary, chipped over a penalty after 25 minutes to stretch the lead to 17-0.
However, with Bath conceding plenty of penalties and Matt Gallagher in the sin bin for a deliberate knock-on, Saints found space to fashion an unconverted try for full-back James Ramm on the stroke of half-time.
The home side recovered their poise after the break, looking to their forwards to regain control, and Tom Dunn duly scored from a line-out catch-and-drive, with Russell converting. Then Saints were shoved off their own scrum but Joe Cokanasiga spilled a pass on the Northampton line. The try bonus point came after 53 minutes when skipper Ben Spencer intercepted in his own half and raced 60 metres to the line, with Russell converting.
Barbeary had no sooner come off the bench than he added a fifth try, converted by Spencer to stretch Bath’s lead to 38-5 and it became a rout when Muir finished off a sweeping move for his second try. Northampton had the final say when Tom Seabrook stole in at the corner in the 78th minute for Saints’ second try, converted by Charlie Savala, but it was Bath who were celebrating.
Bath Rugby: 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Josh Bayliss, 9 Ben Spencer, 10 Finn Russell, 11 Will Muir, 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Matt Gallagher
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Alfie Barbeary, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Miles Reid
Northampton Saints: 15 James Ramm, 14 Tom Seabrook, 13 Tom Litchfield, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Rory Hutchinson, 9 Tom James, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Sam Matavesi, 3 Elliot Millar Mills, 4 Temo Mayanavanua, 5 Tom Lockett, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 7 Lewis Ludlam (c), 8 Sam Graham
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Chunya Munga, 20 Tom Pearson, 21 Archie McParland, 22 Charlie Savala, 23 Toby Thame
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe & Andrew Jackson
TMO : Ian Tempest
