Bath 17 Northampton Saints 15: Thriller at The Rec as Bath hold on for victory

When Freddie Burns scored Bath’s opening try in his side’s narrow win a pre-recorded image of the player wearing a sombrero was flashed across screens. Considering the torrential rain which shaped so much of the complexion of the game, the Mexican hat was an incongruous way of celebrating.

A missed conversion from new Northampton signing Dan Biggar after wing Tom Collins’ try is what denied Saints a draw. Bath director of rugby Todd Blackadder was visibly relieved in the aftermath: “I think everyone was slightly relieved when the ball hit the bar. It was a great game, a really tough game to win and you want to be the team that wins, especially with conditions out there today.”

Although the weather brought about by Storm Bronagh caused an error-strewn game at times, with both sides struggling with handling, the match did not descend into a complete slog with players trying to run the ball when they had the opportunity.

This could possibly have something to do with both directors of rugby, Bath’s Blackadder and Chris Boyd in his maiden season with Northampton, having both cemented their reputations as coaches in their native New Zealand. Blackadder was with Super Rugby side the Crusaders until 2016 and Boyd with the Wellington-based Hurricanes, with whom he won the Super Rugby title with in 2016.

The way in which South African Cobus Reinach had been set up for Saints’ opening try with a wild pass from Piers Francis who of course had previously played from the Auckland Blues, nodded to the Southern Hemisphere.

Blackadder, who has adapted Bath’s game plan to be more conservative and in line with the Premiership style, would have been very familiar with Boyd’s coaching ethos. He noticed a difference in how his old foe has seems to have somewhat adapted the East Midlands’ side’s style of play this season. “What I can certainly see is that Northampton have changed a bit about how they play, which is really good,” he said. “I can see that they are playing with a lot of confidence and they are certainly playing with the ball a lot more. Probably the most noticeable thing is that Northampton were known for playing a kind of around-the-corner style of rugby but they certainly have so much more to their attack now.

“It was funny because when we prepared for today’s game and we were looking at the forward pack and the scrum, it was almost a little bit like playing ourselves at times.”

It was all square at 7-7 at half-time thanks to Burns’ try which came just two minutes before the close of the half. He opportunistically plucked the ball away from Northampton attackers on the Bath 22 and burst up the flank to touch down and then converted.

Boyd was very much aware that his side had been perhaps too ambitious in the opening 40 minutes. “At half-time, we talked a bit about how we probably played a little bit too much through that middle part of the field,” he said. “The boys said at half-time that the ball was really difficult, slippery and we thought we might have gotten some better return.”

Bath looked to have supremacy at the scrum in both halves and this an area Boyd admits he has had to adapt to. “Scrums are one of the big differences between Super Rugby and Premiership Rugby,” he said. “There seems to be a lot more going on in scrums here than in the southern hemisphere.”

The hosts were also superior at lineout time in the second half, with Dave Atwood’s contribution standing out. The second row, who has just returned from Toulon, was tipped by some to make Eddie Jones’ England training squad, made a statement of intent in his man of the match appearance.

One player who has been selected by Jones is 20-year-old wing Joe Cokanasiga, who has had a bright start to the season. His try just after the hour set up by a chip by Burns certainly will give him confidence heading into England’s training camp in Bristol on Sunday.

Ill-discipline from Bath combined with Northampton replacement Harry Mallinder’s good aerial game from the back, helped to provide the territory to set up Collins. 

But again the conditions had a part to play in denying Biggar and saving Bath from another home draw as they had against Gloucester two weeks ago.

Team details

Scores: 0-5 Reinach try; Biggar con; 5-7 Burns try; 7-7 Burns con; 10-7 Burns pen; 15-7 Cockansiga try; 17-7 Burns con; 17-10 Biggar pen; 17-15 Collins try.

Bath: D Atkins; S Rokoduguni, A Brew (M Wright 8 -), J Willison, J Cokanasiga; F Burns, M Green (C Cook 59); N Catt (J van Rooyen 73), T Dunn, (J Walker 55) H Thomas (A Perenise 73), D Attwood, L Charteris (capt) (E Stooke 55), T Ellis, S Underhill (Z Mercer 59), T Faletau.

Northampton: A Tuala; T Naiyaravoro (H Mallinder 55), A Symons (A Kellaway 40), P Francis, T Collins; D Biggar, C Reinach (A Mitchell); A Waller (co-capt) (F Van Wyk 60), D Hartley (co-capt) (M Haywood 60), B Franks (E Painter 52), D Ribbans (A Ratuniyarawa 68), C Lawes, J Gibson, L Ludlam, T Harrison (M Eadie 68).

Referee: Karl Dickson.