An INJURY-TIME conversion from Olly Barkley denied Saracens their first cup final appearance in five years by the cruel margin of tries scored on an afternoon of high drama at The Rec on Saturday.

Saracens had been trailing 20-19, but ahead on aggregate by 57-50, with just seconds remaining when Tom Voyce, the Bath wing, scooted over in the corner to bring Bath to within two points of a tie.

Barkley then held his nerve to land a tricky conversion, five metres in from touch but 25 metres from goal, to send Bath through to face London Wasps by virtue of having scored one more try over the two legs.

It was rough justice on Saracens who, trailing 17-3 (47-41 on aggregate) after a lacklustre first-half, had turned things around with a rousing second-half display to move within touching distance of victory. But, in the final assessment, they were left to rue a 22-point advantage they blew in a costly last quarter in the first leg at Vicarage Road.

The eight-point lead cushion they took to The Rec always looked shaky and the portents looked worrying in the opening exchanges as it was Bath who made all the running.

Barkley and Nicky Little traded penalties inside the opening eight minutes but Bath virtually erased Sarries' slender lead when Gareth Cooper, the Welsh scrum-half, darted through a weak tackle from Kevin Sorrell, off-loaded to Mike Tindall whose pass allowed Danny Grewcock to muscle his way over for his first try for the club since his switch from the Men in Black in 2000. Barkley slotted the conversion.

After Little, horribly out of sorts, had missed penalties on 16 and 22 minutes, Bath edged in front on aggregate when a slick line-out move involving Andy Long, Grewcock and Cooper, found Elvis Seveali'i off his wing and the Samoan blazed his way through four defenders to touch down for his fourth try in three matches against Sarries. Barkley added the extras to put Bath 17-3 up at the break.

Sarries were in desperate need of a lift and it predictably came from the magical boot of Tim Horan, who was the one Sarries player to rise above the level of mediocrity during the first half.

Just three minutes had elapsed when the double World Cup winner collected a pass out wide before sending a delightful grubber, threaded between three Bath defenders, for Darragh O'Mahony to scoop up and dive over. Little landed the conversion.

Two minutes later, Barkley struck an upright from 25 metres but made no mistake five minutes later from close-range after Ryan Peacey was sin-binned for persistent offside.

After Christian Califano failed to reappear after the break, Kyran Bracken, the captain, had been helped off after another heavy blow to the head and Tim Horan limped off, Sarries looked to be up against it but, amazingly, they held their line intact during Peacey's ten-minute absence.

Infact, Sarries even added to their own tally when Andy Goode, on as a replacement for the ineffective Little, slotted a penalty six minutes after his introduction and then landed a stunning drop goal from 40 metres.

Indeed it was Goode's introduction, along with a storming performance from Abdel Benazzi, that galvanised a stirring second-half performance from Sarries. His astute tactical kicking ensured the second-half was played exclusively in Bath's half and allowed Sarries to control the match.

The fly-half could have put the game out of reach with three ambitious opportunities, two long-range penalties and a drop goal, in the space of 13 minutes but his over-eagerness in his first appearance in some time got the better of him.

However, the former Tigers' number ten looked to have sealed it when he banged over a 80th minute penalty, but, in a final throw of the dice, Sarries failed to clear the restart and Bath built up a head of steam.

In a granstand finish, the ball was shipped from left to right where Voyce was lurking on the overlap and he dashed over to ground the ball despite the efforts of Ben Johnston.

Barkley kept a cool head to land the conversion from out wide and send the home crowd into raptures.

April 28, 2003 12:01