It's Premiership game day again for Bath Rugby and we're back at the Rec for the visit of Northampton Saints. The hosts are 5th in the table going into round four, while Saints are down in 9th. Dave Attwood, Taulupe Faletau and Aled Brew are all back in the Blue, Black and White XV, as is full-back Darren Atkins in his first start of the season. Saints have made four changes from the team which ran out for the home defeat to Saracens last weekend. Here's all the build-up, action and reaction...<doc-sep>When Freddie Burns scored Bath’s opening try in his side’s narrow win a pre-recorded image of the player wearing a sombrero was flashed across screens. Considering the torrential rain which shaped so much of the complexion of the game, the Mexican hat was an incongruous way of celebrating. A missed conversion from new Northampton signing Dan Biggar after wing Tom Collins’ try is what denied Saints a draw. Bath director of rugby Todd Blackadder was visibly relieved in the aftermath: “I think everyone was slightly relieved when the ball hit the bar. It was a great game, a really tough game to win and you want to be the team that wins, especially with conditions out there today.” Although the weather brought about by Storm Bronagh caused an error-strewn game at times, with both sides struggling with handling, the match did not descend into a complete slog with players trying to run the ball when they had the opportunity. This could possibly have something to do with both directors of rugby, Bath’s Blackadder and Chris Boyd in his maiden season with Northampton, having both cemented their reputations as coaches in their native New Zealand. Blackadder was with Super Rugby side the Crusaders until 2016 and Boyd with the Wellington-based Hurricanes, with whom he won the Super Rugby title with in 2016.<doc-sep>GET THE BIGGEST STORIES FROM ACROSS SOMERSET STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. SIGN UP Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Bath Rugby were the width of a post away from blowing yet another lead at the Rec, but this time they bagged a victory. Leading Northampton Saints 17-7 with seven minutes to go, the hosts conceded a penalty before a late Tom Collins try gave Dan Biggar a shot at snatching a draw with the final kick. The Wales fly-half’s conversion was only just in from the left touchline, in wet and windy conditions, and it bounced off the right upright to spark a mass exhale from the home crowd, the coaches in the West Stand and the players wearing blue, black and white. The 17-15 scoreline – which included tries from Freddie Burns and Joe Cokanasiga – puts Bath into the Premiership play-off places for the first time this season. Taulupe Faletau, Dave Attwood and Aled Brew all returned to the starting XV, but Bath lost Brew after only eight minutes to a suspected broken wrist. Max Wright came on for his senior debut and did a solid job at 13, as did Darren Atkins as he made his first start of the season at full-back and was comfortable under the high ball in horrible conditions. After non-stop rain in the build-up and throughout the match, this was never going to be an error-free exhibition of running rugby. (Image: Ian Johnson/Taking Pictures (Sport) Ltd) It was to be won in the scrums, lineouts and mauls. Bath were dominant in the scrums and had little success with their driving maul. In the lineouts, it was better not to be throwing in as both sides picked up plenty of steals and seemingly knew exactly where the opposition were throwing it. Semesa Rokoduguni lit up the early exchanges by beating two players, punting up field and hammering Dan Biggar before snaffling the dislodged ball. There were plenty of those as the visitors in particular struggled to keep hold of the ball in attack. The visitors were the first to cross the whitewash. After a 50:50 aerial contest went their way, Piers Francis gathered the loose ball and stepped his way through the Bath defence. (Image: David Rogers/Getty Images) As he tried to offload to Ahsee Tuala, Burns knocked on, the ball ricocheted off Tuala’s head and Cobus Reinach was quickest to react. The scrum-half hacked ahead and had the pace to get to the ball first. Biggar added the extras. Great anticipation from Burns levelled the scores just before half an hour was up. Reinach went open from a scrum and looked to find Andrew Symons on a hard line. Burns could see what was coming, plucked the ball out of the air and finished from more than 80m. The conversion from under the posts was a formality. Had Burns done better with his two first-half penalties the hosts could have been in command at half-time, rather than level at 7-7. (Image: Ian Johnson/Taking Pictures (Sport) Ltd) After the break, Bath struggled to get out of their half at times. Their kicking game wasn't great and Saints looked to be in the ascendancy. Fortunately for the hosts, they usually turned the ball over or lost it to the likes of Taulupe Faletau or Anthony Perenise on the ground. For all their territory Saints couldn’t take the lead and when Teimana Harrison failed to roll away from a breakdown it allowed Burns to put the hosts in front. With a penalty pending in the 62nd minute, the playmaker tried one of his trademark chip and chases. It wasn’t a good one, but it came off a Saints hand and back to Burns, who found Elliott Stooke with a basketball-style pass. The lock looked left and threw a superb double-miss pass to find Cokanasiga in space. There was no catching the winger as he ran in for his third Premiership try of the campaign. The conversion was a difficult one, but Burns nailed it and, in the final shake-up, it proved crucial. (Image: David Rogers/Getty Images) Bath weren’t smart as they tried to defend their 17-7 lead. Willison kicked the ball away, Attwood – who was a powerhouse in defence - gave away a penalty. An unguarded ruck resulted in Api Ratuniyarawa making a 50m gain. Once Biggar had brought the visitors back to within a score, sloppy defending on the inside allowed replacement scrum-half Alex Mitchell to offload to Collins, who set up the tense finish. Fortunately for Bath, their luck was in. Bath Rugby: Atkins; Rokoduguni, Brew (Wright 8), Willison, Cokanasiga; Burns, Green (Cook 59); Catt (van Rooyen 74), Dunn (Walker 55), Thomas (Perenise 74), Attwood, Charteris (Stooke 55), Ellis, Underhill (Mercer 59), Faletau Subs not used: Priestland Tries: Burns, Cokansiga Cons: Burns 2 Pens: Burns Saints: Tuala; Naiyaravoro, Symons, Francis, Collins; Biggar, Reinach; Waller, Hartley, Franks, Ribbans, Lawes, Gibson, Ludlam, Harrison Subs: Haywood, Van Wyk, Painter, Ratuniyarawa, Eadie, Mitchell, Kellaway, Mallinder Tries: Reinach, Collins Cons: Biggar Pens: Biggar Referee: Karl Dickson Attendance: 14,105 Bath’s Star Man: Nathan Catt – a key ingredient in the dominant Bath scrum<doc-sep>The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel GET THE BIGGEST STORIES FROM ACROSS SOMERSET STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. SIGN UP Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Dave Attwood and Taulupe Faletau are back in the pack as Bath Rugby take on Northampton Saints at the Rec. Having been on the bench against Harlequins, Wales and Lions number eight Faletau has been picked in favour of Zach Mercer - last week's two-try man of the match - as the coaches continue to rotate their players. After a short rest, Attwood comes in for Elliott Stooke to partner captain Luke Charteris in the second row. With Jamie Roberts out with a fractured cheekbone, Jackson Willison moves to inside centre and Aled Brew slots in at 13. With Tom Homer not recovering from a hip problem, 21-year-old Darren Atkins will make his first Premiership start of the season at full-back. Max Green and Freddie Burns continue as the half-back pairing, as do Nathan Catt, Tom Dunn and Henry Thomas en masse in the front row. (Image: Ian Johnson/Taking Pictures (Sport) Ltd) Joe Cokanasiga, who scored twice against Quins, retains on the left wing, with the Semesa Rokoduguni on the right. Tom Ellis and Sam Underhill remain at blindside and openside flanker respectively. Max Wright could make his 1st XV debut off the bench. The centre, who joined from Yorkshire Carnegie this time last year, missed most of last season with a knee injury. Bath Rugby XV 15. Darren Atkins 14. Semesa Rokoduguni 13. Aled Brew 12. Jackson Willison 11. Joe Cokanasiga 10. Freddie Burns 9. Max Green 1. Nathan Catt 2. Tom Dunn 3. Henry Thomas 4. Dave Attwood 5. Luke Charteris (c) 6. Tom Ellis 7. Sam Underhill 8. Taulupe Faletau Replacements 16. Jack Walker 17. Jacques van Rooyen 18. Anthony Perenise 19. Elliott Stooke 20. Zach Mercer 21. Chris Cook 22. Rhys Priestland 23. Max Wright<doc-sep>
Bath winger Joe Cokanasiga scored his second try in three games to mark his England training squad call-up Gallagher Premiership Bath (7) 17 Tries: Burns, Cokanasiga Con: Burns 2 Pen: Burns Northampton (7) 15 Tries: Reinach, Collins Cons: Biggar Pens: Biggar Bath won their first home match of the season as they came from behind to beat Northampton. Cobus Reinach's try put Saints ahead before Freddie Burns levelled the scores with an interception try. Bath went ahead after the break through Burns' boot before Joe Cokanasiga added a second try for the home side. Tom Collins scored late on for Saints but stand-off Dan Biggar hit the post with the conversion, as Northampton had to settle for a losing bonus point. On the negative side, Bath lost Welsh centre Aled Brew early on with a suspected broken wrist. Bath are already without his fellow Welsh international Jamie Roberts, England's Jonathan Joseph and Max Clark (hamstring) , while England flanker Sam Underhill was another concern, after being taken off with an injury in the shoulder-neck area. Saints opened the scoring when Reinach chipped the ball and successfully chased his own kick to score under the posts, Biggar adding the conversion. But Burns intercepted Reinach's pass from inside his own 22, as he ran the length of the pitch to level the score. Burns kicked a penalty to put the home side in front and soon after, Cokanasiga, who was called up to the England training squad on Thursday, scored a try in the corner to put Bath further ahead. Northampton came close to snatching a draw in the final minutes when Collins scored in the left corner but Wales' fly-half Biggar's conversion hit the post. Bath director of rugby Todd Blackadder: "Aled's possibly a broken wrist. He'll have to have an X-ray but it doesn't look good. We'll look to make sure we have enough numbers but young Max Wright had a good first game when he came on. "It was a really tough game - you want to be the team that wins in conditions like that out there. "I really felt at half-time that while we did not have a lot of territory, we were quite physically dominant. But a little lack of control and poor discipline let them back into it. "We definitely had an edge in the scrums and in the second half our line-out went a lot better. Our line speed was good too... but there were little moments when we should have been more alive." Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd: "Our line-out has been operating particularly well, but it didn't today. That didn't allow us to build enough pressure. We still had plenty of chances to win that game. "We talked at half-time about having played just a little too much rugby but the boys said the ball was particularly slippery so we felt we might get a better return by finding space behind their players. "But it wasn't until Dan Biggar put the cross-kick up for Harry Mallinder that we were in a position to contest the ball aerially. "Their try just before half-time was a disappointment but none of the tries today were particularly clinically constructed." Bath: Atkins; Rokoduguni, Brew; Willison, Cokanasiga; Burns, Green; Catt, Dunn, Thomas, Attwood, Charteris (capt), Ellis, Underhill, Faletau. Replacements: Walker, van Rooyen, Perenise, Stooke, Mercer, Cook, Priestland, Wright. Northampton: Tuala; Naiyaravoro, Symons, Francis, Collins; Biggar, Reinach; Waller (co-capt), Hartley (co-capt), Franks, Ribbans, Lawes, Gibson, Ludlam, Harrison. Replacements: Haywood, Van Wyk, Painter, Ratuniyarawa, Eadie, Mitchell, Kellaway, Mallinder. Referee: Karl Dickson.