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Meehan curses missed chance

Image: Meehan: Anger at disallowed try

Steve Meehan was left furious at his side, and the referee, after Bath surrendered a 16-point lead against Saracens.

Graham proud of Sarries fight-back

Steve Meehan was far-from happy after his Bath side gave up a 16-point lead to Saracens in a dramatic game at Vicarage Road. Don Barrell scored with just two minutes remaining to complete a remarkable Sarries comeback in front of their own fans. Meehan was left to rue the chances the away side had to put the game beyond doubt having been in complete control of the game. "At 16-0 we had the opportunity to put the first half to bed, didn't take it and let them in. That shouldn't happen," he said. "Then in the second half we never converted any of our pressure and Saracens converted theirs." Bath wing Matt Banahan controversially had a try ruled out after he was penalised for an aerial challenge on Richard Haughton.

Unbelievable

Meehan was adamant that the wrong decision had been made by the match officials. "Somewhat unbelievably, Matt Banahan was penalised for a terrific bit of rugby," he added. "These are big decisions. We don't use the TMO but for the last try of the match the assistant referee puts his flag out and we go to the TMO." He also recognised that his own players should not have let the match slip away from them. Meehan said: "We should never have let Saracens get into that position. Defensively we fell off too many tackles, we weren't aggressive enough in our first phase and in attack we turned over the ball far too much."
Massive
Saracens director of rugby Eddie Jones, who was due to depart in the summer, left the club two days ago but the home side put the off-field controversy behind them to produce a sensational fight-back. Richard Graham, temporarily in charge of the side, admitted that the squad had been playing for their former boss. "He was a massive part of the build-up," Graham said. "I'm very, very proud of the boys and their commitment to the task after, obviously, a difficult week. They have bought into what we are doing."