Farrell's late penalty nudges Saracens closer to play-offs

Owen Farrell's 78th-minute penalty gave Saracens a narrow 15-12 win over Bath on Friday as the defending champions edged closer to the Premiership play-offs.

Saracens climbed above Bath into second place in the table, three points behind leaders Northampton.

Bath battled hard, coming from 12 points adrift through tries from Thomas du Toit and Cameron Redpath, plus a Ben Spencer conversion.

Saracens had taken charge thanks to first-half tries by wings Tom Parton and Rotimi Segun, while Farrell kicked a conversion before his match-winning penalty.

"Bath are a top, top side," said Farrell. "For us to come here and stick in the fight like we did after a couple of tough results we've had of late was tremendous.

"We've gone back to being a little bit more ourselves today. We felt more comfortable.

"By no means was that perfect. There were loads of mistakes, but we fought for each other and we enjoyed doing it."