Late drama as Northampton are beaten

Bath Rugby were the width of a post away from blowing yet another lead at the Rec, but this time they bagged a victory. Leading Northampton Saints 17-7 with seven minutes to go, the hosts conceded a penalty before a late Tom Collins try gave Dan Biggar a shot at snatching a draw with the final kick. The Wales fly-half’s conversion was only just in from the left touchline, in wet and windy conditions, and it bounced off the right upright to spark a mass exhale from the home crowd, the coaches in the West Stand and the players wearing blue, black and white. After losing Aled Brew to a suspected broken wrist eight minutes in, Semesa Rokoduguni lit up the early exchanges by beating two players, punting upfield and hammering Dan Biggar before snaffling the dislodged ball. There were plenty of those as the visitors in particular struggled to keep hold of the ball in attack. Saints were the first to cross the whitewash. After a 50-50 aerial contest went their way, Piers Francis gathered the loose ball and stepped his way through the Bath defence. As he tried to offload to Ahsee Tuala, Burns knocked on, the ball ricocheted off Tuala’s head and Cobus Reinach was quickest to react. The scrum-half hacked ahead and had the pace to get to the ball first. Biggar added the extras. Great anticipation from Freddie Burns levelled the scores just before half an hour was up. Reinach went open from a scrum and looked to find Andrew Symons on a hard line. Burns could see what was coming, plucked the ball out of the air and finished from more than 80m. The conversion from under the posts was a formality. Had Burns done better with his two first-half penalties the hosts could have been in command at half-time, rather than level at 7-7. After the break, Bath struggled to get out of their half at times. Their kicking game wasn’t great and Saints looked in the ascendancy. Fortunately for the hosts, they usually turned the ball over or lost it to the likes of Taulupe Faletau or Anthony Perenise on the ground. For all their territory Saints couldn’t take the lead and when Teimana Harrison failed to roll away from a breakdown it allowed Burns to put the hosts in front. With a penalty pending in the 62nd minute, the playmaker tried one of his trademark chip and chases. It wasn’t a good one, but it came off a Saints hand and back to Burns, who found Elliott Stooke with a basketball-style pass. The lock looked left and threw a superb double-miss pass to find Joe Cokanasiga in space. There was no catching the winger as he ran in for his third Premiership try of the campaign. The conversion was a difficult one, but Burns nailed it and, in the final shake-up, it proved crucial. Bath weren’t smart as they tried to defend their 17-7 lead. Willison kicked the ball away, Dave Attwood – who was a powerhouse in defence – gave away a penalty. An unguarded ruck resulted in Api Ratuniyarawa making a 50m gain. Once Biggar had brought the visitors back to within a score, sloppy defending on the inside allowed replacement scrum-half Alex Mitchell to offload to Collins, who set up the tense finish. Fortunately for Bath, their luck was in.