The second round of Championship South fixtures began last weekend, with Bath Ladies hosting Saracens Ladies IIs at Lambridge.
Bath Ladies were first out of the blocks, stringing together several sweeping attacking moves, only to be halted by some determined Sarries defending.
After several phases of play, a storming run from number 8 Sarah Burgess saw her break three tackles and score on the right hand side of the pitch. Flyhalf Sarah Holloway added the extras.
Bath continued their dominance and following great interplay through centre Kat Southwell and Fullback Cat Davidson, the visitors conceded a kickable penalty. Holloway made sure of the 3 points to give Bath Ladies a 10-0 lead.
This seemed to galvanise the visitors and lead to a sustained period of pressure for Bath Ladies. Sarries battered the Bath try line and eventually got their rewards with a try each for their impressive right wing (uncoverted) and imposing loosehead (converted). Sarries lead 10-12 at the break.
The second half began with both sides determined to score first. Defence was on top and neither side looked like scoring until after a number of quick taps the Saracens second row squeezed over in the corner to take the score to 10-17.
Bath Ladies finished the stronger of the sides and despite several visits to the opposition 22 could not cross the whitewash. Bath did kick another penalty and had to be satisfied with a losing bonus point with the final score at 13-17.
The absence of several Bath Ladies stalwarts gave the opportunity for up and coming talent to come to the fore. Claire Whittaker (loosehead) and Jess Brown (Centre) were particularly impressive.
