Saracens score six of the best in half century Bath win...

With ten minutes remaining in the half Bath were in front 10-16 but when Saracens moved up a gear the visitors couldn’t keep up and a Matt Cairns try was quickly followed by a Jackson penalty and Saracens went into the break 23-16.

The second half was one way traffic with Saracens crossing the line four more times through Kevin Yates, Ben Johnston and a brace from replacement Rodd Penney to bring up the half century. By the time the full time whistle sounded Bath had been long beaten and the crowd, as well as the players, had enjoyed their day out in the autumn sunshine.

 Full Report

Saracens notched up a very impressive 55-23 victory over Bath on Sunday afternoon scoring six tries earning them a welcome bonus point. The win lifts them into sixth place in the Guinness Premiership with man of the match Glen Jackson playing a starring role landing 23 of the points with his boot.

Saracens went into the break 23-16 in front with the lead changing hands several times until Saracens second try from Matt Cairns saw them break clear.

The second half was one way traffic with Saracens crossing the line four more times through Kevin Yates, Ben Johnston and a brace from replacement Rodd Penney to bring up the half century. By the time the full time whistle sounded Bath had been long beaten and the crowd, as well as the players, had enjoyed their day out in the autumn sunshine.

The visitors got into an early lead in the sixth minute after Saracens had a penalty reversed on halfway, handing fly half Olly Barkley a chance to steady his nerves with a cracking long range effort.

With Saracens 0-3 down the game hadn't really taken shape yet and with a host of resets and free kicks at every scrum in the opening period the much anticipated battle of the packs had yet to materialise as both set of forwards looked for a way to gain the upper hand.

One thing that was much improved for the home side was the lineout, which was providing Neil de Kock and Glen Jackson a great platform from which to operate from.

In the eighth minute Richard Haughton took a Nick Walshe box kick in his 22 and then slipped the attempted tackle of Joe Maddock, the winger then headed off in field linking up with Glen Jackson. The fly half then sent a long flat pass to Ben Johnston which left a gaping hole for the centre to speed through which he galloped through and as he reached the Bath 22 he slipped the ball out wide to Kameli Ratuvou who beat the covering defence to score a very slick try.

Annoyingly for the home side Bath were able to hit back at the very next opportunity through full back Nick Abendanon after the visitors stretched Saracens' defence from one side of the pitch to the other eventually working a sizeable overlap for the youngster to score.

With Barkley adding the conversion Bath were back in front 7-10 and although Jackson replied with his first penalty Barkley replied with two of his own to take the score to 10-16.

The game was still fairly evenly poised but with ten minutes remaining in the half Saracens rolled their sleeves up to get themselves back into the game.

First up Kameli Ratuvou was adjudged to have received a forward pass as he crossed the line in the corner much to the annoyance of the home crowd after some excellent work from Richard Haughton, Dan Scarbrough and Glen Jackson. Fortunately the referee brought play back to a penalty early in the phase of play and Jackson knocked over the three points to close the gap to three points.

The Fijian winger was denied again minutes later after some more good work from both backs and forwards ended up with him being bundled into touch inches short of the line. In between his two failed efforts David Seymour made a superb try saving tackle as he chased down a certain try from winger Michael Stephenson. Not only did he scrag the former Newcastle Falcons flyer, he also got straight to his feet to rip the ball, which resulted in a penalty to Saracens, an amazing piece of individual effort from the up-and-coming star.

With a few minutes remaining Saracens retook the lead after a daring break from Glen Jackson took play to the edge of the Bath 22. Danny Grewcock intercepted the fly half's inside pass but he was bundled towards touch and as he neared the line the former Saracens laid the ball back. Unfortunately none of his teammates noticed the ball bobbling around next to the touchline and up popped the impressive Neil de Kock to pick up the ball and race towards the line.

The South African scrum half fended off the first defender and then slipped the ball inside to Matt Cairns who ran in to score Saracens second try of the afternoon and the crowd were on their feet.

Jackson added the conversion to take the lead to 20-16 and then added a third penalty on the stroke of half time to take his side in to the break 23-16 in front.

As the players recharged their batteries the crowd were left to dwell on another rousing pre-half time performance. Only a week earlier they had gone in with a similar lead only to come out and lose to Cardiff, what would happen this weekend in the second period.

Thankfully the Saracens faithful didn't have long to wait as Glen Jackson knocked over a drop goal after just a few minutes as Saracens looked to continue their assault on the visitors.

Six minutes latter and the fly half had kicked a penalty to the corner and after the ball was safely won the forwards set off on a 20 metre rolling maul that resulted in Saracens' third try. Kevin Yates arose from a pile of bodies, ball in hand after the maul was driven across the white wash and Saracens were 33-16 in front.

A minute later and Saracens had earned the bonus point after an overthrown lineout ball was gratefully collected on halfway by Ben Johnston and the centre sprinted for the line eventually barging over for the all important fourth try and with Jackson again adding the conversion Saracens were looking like they were home and dry at 40-16.

Bath threatened a come back a few minutes later and retained possession in Saracens' half for nearly ten minutes but heroic defence kept the visitors at bay with an aggressive Seymour tackle finally seeing possession turned over and Johnston clear his line with a mighty hoof to touch.

As the game entered the final ten minutes there were a flurry of replacements from both sides but this didn't put Saracens off their game. In the 70th minute Saracens looked to adding their second try from a catch and drive as the forwards hurtled towards the line only for Chris Goodman to pull it down just inches short of the line. He was promptly sent to the bin and Jackson notched up another three points.

Now with the extra man Saracens started put more pace on the ball and sure enough the visitors were exposed with Johnston breaking loose just inside the Bath half and as he raced towards the 22 he weighed up his options and then sent a perfectly weighted kick through which replacement Rodd Penney pounced on in the corner to send the crowd into raptures.

This time Jackson couldn't quite land the tricky conversion and score remained at 48-16 with the half century looking to be out of grasp with just five minutes remaining.

The chance of Saracens reaching the fifty looked even more remote when Jonny Faamatuainu crossed the line for a consolation try in the 76th minute and then the visitors looked to try and make the score look slightly more respectable with a third try as they maintained a late riposte.

Unfortunately for the visitors they forced the game a little too much and Penney read a long miss out pass well to intercept on half way and the winger raced in for his second try, Saracens sixth and put the Men in Black past the 50 point barrier.

Replacement fly half Ross Laidlaw added the simple conversion to take the score to 55-23 and referee Sean Davey blew the final whistle handing Saracens all five points and an equally important confidence boost ahead of the start of the European Challenge Cup next week.