Premiership: Saracens 16-25 Bath: Sarries beaten by four-try visitors

Bath followed up their win over Newcastle with a victory at Saracens

Defending champions Saracens fell to their second defeat of the Premiership season as they were beaten 25-16 by Bath at the StoneX Stadium.

Andy Christie scored first for Saracens, but tries from Tom De Glanville, Miles Reid and Ruaridh McConnochie gave Bath a half-time lead.

Thomas du Toit added the bonus-point score after the break as Bath's lead never looked threatened.

Saracens have now failed to take any points from their opening two games.

After falling to a record 65-10 loss at Exeter last week, Saracens have now lost their first two games of a Premiership season for the first time since the start of the 2008-09 campaign and sit at the bottom of the table.

Bath, meanwhile, continued their resurgence under director of rugby Johann van Graan, after collecting a maximum 10 points from their successive wins.

This game began with three tries in a frantic first seven minutes. Christie - one of six changes to the Sarries starting line-up - charged down a Bath kick in midfield and ran over unopposed under the posts to seemingly give the home side the perfect start, although it would turn out to be their only try of the match.

Bath quickly snatched the lead as fly-half Finn Russell got between two defenders and sent a looping pass to release De Glanville to score. Reid followed from close range as Bath opened up a 12-7 advantage.

Alex Lozowski closed the gap with a penalty for the hosts, yet Bath had their third try on 21 minutes after a neat crossfield kick from Ben Spencer picked out McConnochie to go over in the corner.

A Russell penalty gave Bath a 10-point lead but a second Lozowski penalty kept Saracens within a converted try at the break.

Lozowski kicked his third three points from the penalty tee but as the rain poured down in London, any attacking threat from Saracens was similarly washed out.

Du Toit added the crucial bonus point try on 55 minutes, his first since joining the club this summer, using his strength to cross from close range as Bath held their patience through the phases following a lineout.

Bath could have added more points, dropping the ball four times while attacking during the final 20 minutes.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall said:

"We struggled at the scrum at times and gave away key penalties there, which gave them the platform to win the match really, but there was some good fight from the team after what happened last week.

"Every time we gave ourselves some field position or some glimmers of hope we kept on making mistakes, which is not surprising in those conditions.

"There is obviously disappointment overall but some encouragement that we were a lot better and a lot more competitive than we were last week.

"Fair play to Bath, they were very good today. Finn Russell is obviously a good player, but I was more impressed with them as a team, to be honest."

Bath director of rugby Johann van Graan told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We came to the home of the champions, a club that I respect so much for what they've achieved on the pitch, and it was a tough battle.

"They started with a charge down the first minute. The two things that stood out for me today was our mental toughness - we came back straight away with two tries - and then just before half-time it started to rain so we adapted our plan at half-time.

"I feel we played the second half in the right parts of the pitch. Very happy with the away win."

Saracens: Goode; Maitland, Lozowski, Tompkins, Segun; Manu Vunipola, Davies; Mako Vunipola (c), Hadfield, Riccioni, Hunter-Hill, Isiekwe, McFarland, Christie, Willis.

Replacements: Adejimi, West, Clarey, Stonham, Knight, Simpson, Hartley, Lewington.

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Redpath, Butt, McConnochie; Russell, Spencer (c); Schoeman, Annett, Jonker, Roux, Ewels, Reid, Cloete, Barbeary.

Replacements: Dunn, Du Toit, Griffin, McNally, Coetzee, Schreuder, Bailey, Ojomoh.

Sin-bin: Cloete (80 mins)

Referee: Hamish Smales

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