By Sam Jess
Bath gained some revenge for last year’s final defeat as they smashed Northampton Saints 38-16 on a frantic opening night of the Premiership.
First-half scores from Joe Cokanasiga, Ted Hill and Ben Spencer gave Bath a 21-10 lead, with Josh Kemeny dotting down for the visitors.
The Champions looked to come back in the second half, but late tries from Ollie Lawrence and Jaco Coetzee gave the runners-up from last season the perfect start in their quest to go one better.
The Rec crowd was pumping, and with the host enjoying the lion’s share of possession in the opening exchanges, they found the first score of the Premiership season.
A brilliant turnover from centurion Miles Reid gave the host a lineout inside the Northampton Saints 22, which they capitalised on with ease as they spread the ball wide after a strong carry from Ted Hill to send Joe Cokanasiga into the corner.
The Champions should have responded with their first points of the season after a powerful scrum, but Finn Smith was wayward from the tee.
The other Finn Russell, was next to squander points from the tee.
After a rather sloppy start to life as Champions, Northampton struck gold with a stunning attacking move. Finn Smith switched the attack back to the short side to find George Furbank on a beautiful line before putting in Josh Kemeny to equal the scores.
Bath continued to hold more of the ball, but Saints repelled equally to frustrate Russell and co with small early season errors denying the attacking flow.
Almost as those words had been written, Bath found the flair that had been ever-present in their run to the final. After plenty of kicking, de Glanville got brave and went from inside his own half as he found Will Butt on a surging line.
As Bath flooded forward, Spencer was on hand to provide the link with style before drawing the final defender, Furbank, to give Ted Hill an easy run-in for a purler of an opening night try.
There is a strange sense of expectation around these parts for the first time in many years, but they were dealing with it suitably well on opening night. A Lawrence turnover gave Bath another chance to kick to the corner, and while maul stalled, Spencer did not as he snipped his way past James Ramm for try number three.
Saints came surging out in the second half and enjoyed the majority of possession, with fly-half Smith showing his influence with a lovely cross field kick with Ramm just unable to secure it for the try.
A charging Juarno Augustus entered the occasion and added some increased power into a Saints attack, which was almost ticking as Smith kicked his second penalty of the match.
More Saints possession gave Smith another chance for points, which he did not miss.
Bath’s defence was hanging on but doing a good enough job, and they got their reward moments later as Saints tried to escape from deep but were met by debutant Guy Pepper, who helped dislodge the ball before Lawrence raced away untouched. A killer blow.
The comeback seemed shot, and when they flew off their feet at another breakdown, Russell kicked a beauty to extend the lead to 15.
Bath were looking for a flourish to begin life as one of the title favourites, and after two disallowed efforts, they found the fifth through Jaco Coetzee to send the Rec into party mode.
Bath Rugby: 38
Tries: 5 (Joe Cokanasiga 6′ Ted Hill 27′ Ben Spencer 35′ Ollie Lawrence 62′ Jaco Coetzee, 74′)
Conversion: 5 (Finn Russell 7′, 28′, 36′, 63′ 75)
Penalties: 1 (Finn Russell 54′)
BATH: 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Miles Reid (100), 8 Alfie Barbeary, 9 Ben Spencer ©, 10 Finn Russell, 11 Will Muir, 12 Will Butt, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Tom de Glanville
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk (debut), 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Jacques du Plessis, 20 Guy Pepper (debut), 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Jaco Coetzee
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS: 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Angus Scott-Young, 5 Chunya Munga, 6 Josh Kemeny,* 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Sam Graham, 9 Tom James, 10 Fin Smith, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 14 James Ramm, 15 George Furbank (c).
Northampton Saints: 16
Tries 1 (Josh Kemeny 19′)
Conversion 1 (Fin Smith 20′)
Penalties: 3 (Fin Smith 31′ 54′ 60′)