It looks increasingly likely that when the fog of winter lifts, Bath will emerge top of the pile, perfectly placed to launch an assault on the Premiership playoffs. Saracens travelled west aiming to make it four wins from four in December but were dismissed with contemptuous ease by Johann van Graan’s finely tuned side.

The visitors’ cause was not helped by a pair of early cards, one yellow and one red, but Bath were dominant throughout in achieving their biggest Premiership win against Saracens, Will Muir scoring a hat-trick among 10 tries.

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Bath are clear at the top halfway through the season and it would be a major shock if they do not visit Twickenham again next June. Liam Williams, the visiting full-back, was sent to the sin-bin after four minutes and Toby Knight, Saracens’ openside, was dismissed for a high tackle on Ollie Lawrence 10 minutes later.

That was the latest split-second defensive misjudgment to result in another regrettably unbalanced contest. But it could be argued Bath had already taken a firm grip on the match, with the cards reflecting the fact, which certainly applied to Williams’s earlier misdemeanour.

The self-styled professional bomb defuser saw no option but to pat a sensational cross-kick by Finn Russell into touch with Joe Cokanasiga lurking. It was sensible and cynical and a penalty try after four minutes was the result.

Significantly, Saracens promptly lost their blindside flanker, Theo McFarland, to injury, plus the wing Tobias Elliott, before Ben Earl was denied a try for a forward pass. It got worse. Lawrence charged through midfield and was hit high by Knight: red card.

“Some of those have been given as yellows this year, but that’s not for me to comment on,” said Mark McCall, Saracens director of rugby. “We were disappointed with how we reacted being down to 14.”

Ben Spencer and Russell, “world-class players” according to Van Graan, were running the show, enabled by their colleagues’ considerable forward power. Bath’s precision was evident again after 15 minutes when Ted Hill ran straight through Alex Lozowski and the unstoppable Thomas du Toit dived over. Cameron Redpath darted in for Bath’s third try after Fergus Burke’s penalty put the visitors on the board.

On the eve of the match Van Graan said coaching is a matter of blending art and science and that applied to Bath’s bonus-point-clinching try before the break. Saracens were under pressure at a defensive scrum, and the No 9, Spencer, feinted to go to the openside before skipping down the blindside, finding Muir, who raced home.

“At half-time we said: ‘We want to put our foot down,’” said Muir. “We didn’t want to just win the game, we wanted to try and make a statement and put a score on them.”

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Mission accomplished, then: Lawrence’s slick one-handed offload to Cokanasiga created the fifth try, and Muir soon slid over for No 6. Van Graan emptied his bench and Sam Underhill barged over after more wonderful work from Spencer.

A charge-down from Francois van Wyk allowed Lawrence to romp in for the seventh try. Van Wyk was then denied his own score after a knock on but no matter – Cokanasiga sprinted over for his second – and when Muir sealed his hat-trick, the visitors’ biggest Premiership defeat was complete.

Muir played in 2021 when Saracens thrashed Bath 71-17 here and again when Gloucester thumped them 64-0 at Kingsholm in 2022. Consequently, he is not about to get carried away after scoring his first professional hat-trick.

“Years ago it was quite a tough place to be,” the wing said. “I’ve experienced it myself and that’s why I don’t get too ahead of myself. We’ve been on the receiving end, we know what it’s like and how tough it is. It’s knowing the better days will come and sticking to what you believe in.”

McCall, similarly, was looking to the future. “Today’s a big moment,” he said. “When these thunderbolts come along it’s how you respond which defines the rest of the season. The experience is ugly, it’s horrible to be honest, but it’s how you respond. Time will tell.”