Saracens crowned English champions

Former Sharks lock Alistair Hargreaves lifted the Premiership trophy after Saracens beat Bath 28-16 at Twickenham.

The game was all but over by half-time as three tries saw Sarries race into a 25-3 lead. While Bath did well to 'win' the second half 13-3, they never looked like winning the match.

Sarries opened the scoring in the sixth minute when, following a good run by David Strettle, the ball went wide to Owen Farrell, who threw a dummy before scoring in the left-hand corner.

Their second try came from a Bath mistake, as Ross Batty knocked on near his 22, with Jamie George picking up the loose ball and outsprinting the cover defence.

Farrell then slotted a penalty to make it 15-0, before George Ford finally got Bath on the board with one of his own.

Normal activity soon resumed as another break by Strettle got Saracens into the opposition 22, with the ball then going wide to Chris Wyles, who dotted down for his side's third try.

Farrell's second penalty gave his side a 22-point lead at half-time.

Ford kicked a penalty early in the second half, before Jonathan Joseph scored a converted try to give Bath a glimmer of hope.

Ford and Farrell then exchanged penalties to make it 28-16 with 17 minutes remaining, and that's the way it stayed.

Saracens – Tries: Owen Farrell, Jamie George, Chris Wyles. Conversions: Farrell (2). Penalties: Farrell (2).
Bath – Try: Jonathan Joseph. Conversion: George Ford. Penalties: Ford (3).

Saracens – 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Wyles, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 David Strettle, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Jacques Burger, 6 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 4 Alistair Hargreaves (c), 3 Petrus du Plessis, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Subs: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Jim Hamilton, 20 Jackson Wray, 21 Neil de Kock, 22 Charlie Hodgson, 23 Chris Ashton.

Bath – 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Sam Burgess, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Stuart Hooper (c), 3 David Wilson, 2 Ross Batty, 1 Paul James.
Subs: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Dominic Day, 20 Matt Garvey, 21 Carl Fearns, 22 Chris Cook, 23 Ollie Devoto.

Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Post by