Farrell stars as Saracens chip away at record sanction

PREMIERSHIP REPORT: England captain Owen Farrell kicked 20 points on his return to club duty following the World Cup as Saracens defeated Bath 25-12 to chip away at their record 35-point deduction for breaching the salary cap.

The defending Premiership champions were playing for the first time since accepting their points deduction and a £5.4 million fine.

Saracens also scored the only try of the game with wing Sean Maitland crossing in the 33rd minute.

Maro Itoje and Billy Vunipola were also making their first appearances for Saracens since the World Cup final on November 2, while Elliot Daly made his debut at fullback following his move from Wasps in the off-season.

For a full recap of the action CLICK HERE!

The scorers:

For Bath:

Pens: Priestland 4

For Saracens:

Try: Maitland

Con: Farrell

Pens: Farrell 6

Yellow card: Maro Itoje (Saracens, 70')

Teams:

Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Max Wright, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Ruaridh McConnochie, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Francois Louw (captain), 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Josh Bayliss, 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano

Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Lewis Boyce, 18 Christian Judge, 19 Matt Garvey, 20 Rhys Davies, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Gabe Hamer-Webb

Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Brad Barritt (captain), 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Jackson Wray, 6 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 4 Will Skelton, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola

Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Manu Vunipola, 23 Nick Tompkins

Referee: Karl Dickson

Assistant Referees: James Milliner-Woodcock, Ryan Collier

TMO: David Rose