BATH 66-21 SARACENS

By Gary Fitzgerald 4/05/2008

Bath booked their place in the playoffs by drowning sad Sarries under NINE tasty tries.

The West Country warriors leapt above bitter rivals Gloucester - who face a fierce clash at Wasps today - to top the Guinness Premiership table again.

Centre Olly Barkley - who is on his way to Gloucester at the end of the season - was outstanding but so were all his team-mates.

And England prop Matt Stevens insisted: "This shows we're really up for this end-ofseason title battle.

"We've fallen at the last hurdle in the past and we don't want that to happen again."

Sarries just could not cope as the floodgates opened after only eight minutes.

Barkley's boot gave them a 3-0 lead before Daniel Browne, Barkley and Michael Lipman crossed the Sarries line.

Try No.4 came from Joe Maddock, who picked up the bonus point within half an hour with a fine effort.

Flying wing Matthew Banahan raced 60 yards, shrugging off Sarries tacklers to finish a stunning individual try.

Then foot-perfect Barkley's kick just added salt to Sarries gaping wounds and the visitors were down and out, 45-0, by half-time.

Bath had scrum-half Michael Claassens yellow-carded for foul play. And they were lucky not to have Jonathan Faamatuianu sent off for a punch-up with Kevin Yates.

Butch James was sinbinned for foul play and Sarries made a fight of it with two tries within 14 minutes of the restart through Adam Powell and Kevin Yates.

Order was resumed with Lipman and Barkley getting their second tries.

Fijian Kameli Ratuvou scored Sarries third try but replacement Andrew Higgins replied with Bath's ninth.

Bath: Tries: Browne, Barkley 2, Lipman 2, Maddock, James, Banahan, Higgins. Cons: Barkley 9. Pens: Barkley.

Saracens Tries: Powell, Yates, Ratuvou. Cons: Jackson 2, Ross.