{"id":550704,"date":"2026-03-19T14:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550704\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T14:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:22:07","slug":"prem-train-returns-with-saracens-looking-for-instant-lift-at-bath-rugby-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550704\/","title":{"rendered":"Prem \u2018train\u2019 returns with Saracens looking for instant lift at Bath | Rugby union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember the Prem? It\u2019s been in hibernation almost as long as your tortoise. The last sighting of England\u2019s elite men\u2019s domestic league was on 24 January but now, finally, it is re-emerging from the shadows of the Six Nations<\/a>, starting under the Friday night lights at the Rec where second-placed Bath are hosting sixth-placed Saracens.<\/p>\n

It has certainly felt like a protracted hiatus, even if the lower-profile Prem Cup has taken up some slack. And with only eight regular season rounds remaining every would-be playoff contender has no choice but to hit the ground running. As Bath\u2019s head coach, Johann van Graan, says: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter what you\u2019ve done before. It\u2019s about what you do going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which, up to a point, is true. The race to make the top four still has six realistic candidates separated by only 11 points. Given the lack of relegation in a 10-team-league, though, the organisers will be praying for a compelling run-in with Sale Sharks, Gloucester, Harlequins and Newcastle Red Bulls already trailing the rest of the peloton.<\/p>\n

The good news is that a spectacular Six Nations has raised rugby\u2019s profile at just the right time. Next week is being billed as the Big Match Bonanza, with a triple-header of games scheduled for Villa Park, Cardiff\u2019s Principality Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. <\/p>\n

By then a few more battered England squad members should be back out on the field, including the national captain Maro Itoje and Jamie George. Reducing the number of fallow Six Nations weeks from two to one may have assisted the tournament\u2019s momentum but, inevitably, there is a knock-on effect. Ben Spencer, though, is back to lead Bath<\/a> just six days after playing for England in Paris and Scotland\u2019s Finn Russell, too, is straight in at 10. Guy Pepper and Sam Underhill are on the bench, while Elliot Daly starts for Sarries.<\/p>\n

The two clubs, as it happens, are due to face off again at the Rec in the last 16 of the Champions Cup on Easter Saturday, which puts the ball squarely in Sarries\u2019 court. Lose both fixtures plus next week\u2019s league fixture at home to leaders Northampton and their season will be in real danger of petering out.<\/p>\n

Bath, by contrast, are sitting reasonably pretty with no post-Six Nations injury issues and their finances stabilised by the new ownership alliance of James Dyson and Bruce Craig. Van Graan has been urging his trophy-chasing squad to think of the season like a train journey; no matter which individuals get on and off the important thing is to reach their collective destination. \u201cWe\u2019ve got things we want to achieve through the rest of the season but we know we can only do it a week at a time,\u201d stressed the head coach. \u201cThere\u2019s a big chunk of the season lying ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bath\u2019s Alfie Barbeary will play Saracens on Friday before joining them in the summer. Photograph: Bob Bradford\/CameraSport\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Saracens\u2019 director of rugby, Mark McCall, is preaching a similar mantra, using the nine-try thriller against Bath<\/a> back in November as evidence his side are not too far away. \u201cWe\u2019re four points from the playoff positions so there\u2019s everything to play for,\u201d said McCall. \u201cIt is a huge test against Bath. They\u2019re a team who have been together for a while now and are very comfortable in their own skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a particularly big game for a couple of Bath players. Henry Arundell, dropped by England for the final rounds of the Six Nations, will be looking to get his mojo back beside the River Avon, while Alfie Barbeary will also be keen to impress at No 8 before his move to Saracens in the summer.<\/p>\n

McCall, for one, seriously rates Barbeary. \u201cAlfie is like Tom Willis in a way. He makes things happen and has big moments on the field. We\u2019ve talked to him a few times down the years before he went to Bath. I think with Tom going he\u2019ll complement our other back-rowers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Remember the Prem? It\u2019s been in hibernation almost as long as your tortoise. The last sighting of England\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-550704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}