Steve Booth had been on the field a matter of seconds, as a wing replacement for Freddie Tuilagi, when his stunning dash through a spreadeagled Gloucester defence punished a dropped pass in midfield.Finally Geordan Murphy, who today joins Ireland’s squad for the Six Nations Championship match in Scotland, scored with a flourish at the right-hand corner. Just in time for the bonus point, yet a little late for Murphy. Ireland’s backs’ coach, Eddie O’Sullivan, here specifically to watch the Leicester wing, had already left for Birmingham Airport. As for Gloucester, having looked overseas for much of their inspiration, they found that, on this occasion, home advantage was not nearly enough.Gloucester: A Stoica; D O’Leary, J Ewens, T Fanolua, D Albanese; L Mercier, D Yachvili (A Gomarsall, 62); T Woodman (P Collazo, 62), O Azam (C Fortey, 57), P Vickery (capt, Collazo, 8-13), R Fidler, A Eustace, J Boer, J Paramore (M Cornwell, h-t), A Hazell. Leicester: T Stimpson; G Murphy, G Gelderbloom, R Kafer, F Tuilagi (S Booth, 67); A Goode, H Ellis (A Healey, 57); G Rowntree (capt), D West, D Garforth, L Deacon (M Johnson, 61), B Kay, P Gustard (N Back, 57), P Short (M Corry, 57), L Moody.Referee: R Goodliffe (Yorkshire). Bath are this morning in the unique position of propping up the Premiership, after making the worse possible start to the season.

Bath are this morning in the unique position of propping up the Premiership, after making the worse possible start to the season.
Yesterday’s defeat to Saracens was the arsenic on the cake as the thoroughbred West County club conceded 10 points in the last two minutes to leave the faithful at the Recreation Ground in a state of bewilderment.Bath, now played three lost three, had just taken the lead at 20-17 when Luke Smith levelled with a bizarre penalty in the 78th minute.Saracens, down to 14 men following the sin-binning of the replacement Keiron Roche, looked as if they had salvaged a draw when they won a penalty just outside their 22. Nick Walshe took a quick tap-kick and set off through Bath’s massed ranks. By the time he was caught, the defence had been fatefully fractured. Walshe found Tim Horan in midfield and the former Wallaby raced about 60 yards, cutting inside to beat Andy Williams and the erratic Iain Balshaw for a stunning try under the posts. Smith’s conversion was the final act of a match that only came to life in the final quarter.In perfect conditions the first half was punctuated with imperfections. Smith, who kicked 10 out of 10 last week in the victory over Gloucester, was on target in the first minute but his golden spell was broken when he struck an upright with a penalty 10 minutes later. The South African went on to miss two more while his opposite number, Olly Barkley, kicked three out of three to give his side a 9-3 lead at half time.A highlight amongst the low lights was a big straight arm tackle by the England and Lions’ lock Danny Grewcock on his former team-mate Kyran Bracken.

Bracken, who was replaced just before half-time seven days ago after suffering a head injury, was again withdrawn from the action to save him from further punishment.The minute’s silence before the game was particularly poignant for Dan Lyle, Bath’s American captain and his Saracens counterpart Abdel Banazzi, who is a devout muslim. “People I know from the New York Athletic Club are still missing,” Lyle said. “I’ve often visited the World Trade Centre and I’ve been on that flight from Newark to San Francisco.” His father Mike is a retired army general. “He worked in the Pentagon and his office was in the section that was hit,” Lyle added.

“You just have to keep going.”Lyle was conspicuous by his presence in most areas of play but the end game was a cruel blow. Bath’s six point lead was cancelled out after the interval, Smith landing two simple penalties.Mike Tindall, the England centre who had been out for seven months with a leg injury, came on 10 minutes into the second half and immediately made an impact by leading a counter attack that resulted in a Barkley penalty.Saracens, with their first consistent attack, went ahead in the 58th minute with a try from Brett Sparg. Horan twice had a hand in a move that also featured Darragh O’Mahony and Smith and when the latter was stopped just short he popped the ball up for Sparg.Saracens extended their lead to five points with a Smith penalty after Gavin Thomas was issued with a yellow card for killing the ball. It was the signal for a Bath revival which duly arrived.An attempted Smith clearance was charged down by Nathan Thomas and Tindall hacked on towards the left corner.

Adryan Winnan failed to gather but Simon Danielli didn’t and the left wing cut inside for the try.After 73 minutes, Lyle and Gareth Cooper combined to take play towards the Saracen’s posts, where Kieran Roche was sin-binned for deliberately smothering the ball.As Barkley kicked the resultant penalty it looked as if the game was up for Saracens But then came the flourish at the finish. To make matters worse for Bath, they lost Cooper with what looked like a serious leg injury and the scrum-half will almost certainly miss the Wales international against Romania on Wednesday.At that point Bath still held a three point lead and were odds-on to record their first victory of the campaign.They might have suspected it wasn’t to be when Smith’s fifth penalty, which made it 20-20, was heading well left of the post when it took an inexplicable change in flight to clear the crossbar.It had to be seen to be believed and Bath still don’t believe it.Bath 20 Saracens 27Try: Danielli Tries: Sparg, Horan Con: Con: Smith Pens: Barkley 5 Pens: Smith 5 Half-time: 9-3 Attendance: 7,968Bath: I Balshaw; R Thirlby, K Maggs, S Cox (M Tindall, 50), S Danielli; O Barkley, G Cooper (A Williams, 76); D Barnes, M Regan (A Long, 69), J Mallett, S Borthwick, D Grewcock (M Gaby, 69), G Thomas, D Lyle (capt), N Thomas.Saracens: A Winnan; T Shanklin (B Sparg, 48), T Horan, K Sorrell, D O’Mahony; L Smith, K Bracken (N Walshe, 40); L Harbut, R Russell (M Cairns, 72), S Phillips, A Benazzi (capt), S Murray (K Roche, 72), R Hill, B Cole (K Benazzi, 24), T Roques.Ref: N Whitehouse (Wales).. You don’t see much of Ivan Lendl around the tennis scene these days. That was obvious from the number of current players and former rivals who paused to shake his hand and ask after his health as we chatted in the competitors’ lounge on the final weekend of the US Open.