Bath complete opening night revenge mission as Saints are beaten at The Rec

Johann van Graan's side moved into a 21-10 half-time lead, scoring three times in the first 40 minutes before Saints cranked up the heat at the start of the second period.

Phil Dowson's men played the 22 minutes after half-time almost exclusively in the Bath half but only had two Fin Smith penalties to show for their efforts.

And after Ollie Lawrence landed a sucker punch with a score out of nowhere on 63 minutes, Bath kicked on to make sure of their bonus-point success, while Saints headed home with nothing.

The highlight for Saints was a first competitive try for the club for Australian flanker Josh Kemeny, but it was a tough night against a resilient Bath side in the west country.

Phil Dowson's men conceded a couple of tries they would normally expect to prevent during the first period, and the Lawrence effort, a minute after Saints had pulled back to 21-16 down, ended their victory bid.

The black, green and gold knew they needed to be squeaky clean in terms of discipline to get anything at The Rec, but a couple of early penalty concessions close to halfway gave Bath a foothold in the game.

And it didn't take long for the home side to capitalise as the ball was moved wide right for Joe Cokanasiga, who proved too strong as he flew over the line.

Finn Russell converted superbly from the touchline and Bath had the start to the new season they craved.

Saints had a chance to respond when Trevor Davison won the battle with Beno Obano at a Bath scrum, but Fin Smith missed a kick he would normally expect to make.

With laws having changed during the summer, Saints were struggling to get their head it, twice being penalised for not retreating.

Russell decided to go for goal with his team's penalty chance, but he was unable to take it to keep the gap at seven points.

Saints were making the occasional half-break here and there, but Bath continually grabbed them before they got any real momentum, meaning much of the play was on halfway.

However, with the clock ticking towards the 20 minute mark, Saints finally struck as George Furbank went flying through and fired the pass to his left for Kemeny to score his first try for the club.

Smith converted well to level the scores and Saints showed their appetite as Rory Hutchinson booted a ball clear and James Ramm made a huge hit on Russell, with several other men in white joining in to push the home side into touch.

Bath responded though and after Miles Reid escaped punishment for appearing to get Smith around the neck, the home side moved the ball in rapid fashion for Ted Hill to finish things off under the posts.

Russell converted and his team had their seven-point lead back.

Bath almost scored again soon after as Will Muir chipped ahead and gathered before trying to find Ben Spencer on his shoulder, but the scrum-half knocked on with a clear run to the line in sight.

Saints hit back with a superbly struck penalty from Smith, who landed it from close to halfway, but England centre Lawrence instantly won Bath a breakdown penalty of their own, allowing Russell to kick to the corner.

And after Bath got little movement from their maul, scrum-half Spencer took charge, spotting a hole in the Saints defence and sprinting through it to score.

Russell added the extras again and his side were now well in control with four minutes to go under the break.

Saints went to the corner with a penalty as they tried to issue a riposte, but Bath were given a penalty after the ball came out to ensure they would head in 11 points up.

Saints applied some pressure and they looked to have their reward as Ramm dived on to a crossfield kick from Smith, but after several replays were shown on the big screen, referee Luke Pearce decided to rule it out for a knock on from Ramm.

Saints had played all of the early part of the second half in the Bath half, and they finally got some points as Smith slotted a penalty from in front of the posts.

Smith was at it again with 19 minutes to go after great work from Tom James and Juarno Augustus caused panic in the Bath defence, forcing them to infringe.

The successful penalty cut the gap to five points, but Saints, who had been totally dominant after the break, were struck with a sucker punch.

Lawrence grabbed a timely score for his team after Saints had lost the ball inside their own half, and Russell converted to give Bath breathing space.

And after Saints were penalised on halfway and then marched back for dissent, Russell notched a penalty that well and truly looked to take the game away from the champions.

The game still hadn't entered its final 10 minutes, but Saints had emptied their bench with the chance of any points drifting away.

And after Kemeny was yellow carded, Bath rounded off a good night from their perspective with a try from Jaco Coetzee.

Russell applied the gloss with the conversion and Bath had one last effort ruled out, which mattered little as Saints were well beaten by then.

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Butt, Muir (Bailey 72); Russell; Spencer (c) (Schreuder 75); Obano (van Wyk 52), Dunn (Annett 65), Stuart (Griffin 52); Roux (du Plessis 65), Ewels; Hill, Reid (Pepper 55), Barbeary (Coetzee 60).

Saints: Furbank (c); Ramm, Dingwall (Thame 64), Hutchinson, Sleightholme (Freeman 52); F Smith, James (McParland 68); Iyogun (West 52), C Langdon (Smith 62), Davison (Green 62); Scott-Young (Hunter-Hill 64), Munga; Kemeny, Pearson, Graham (Augustus 50).

Referee: Luke Pearce

Attendance: 12,959