Saracens' dreams of a league and cup double went up in smoke after an agonising 31-30 European Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Bath at Vicarage Road on Sunday, April 22.

Bath struck four times in the first half through Andy Beattie, former Saracens lock Danny Grewcock, David Bory and the impressive Shaun Berne, although Rodd Penney's brace kept the hosts in sight at the break at 18-28.

Dan Scarbrough scored either side of an Olly Barkley penalty in the second half but Glen Jackson could not add to his 10 point tally with what would have proved to be a match-winning conversion.

For long periods Saracens looked edgy and Bath tore strips off their leaky defence to take the clash by the scruff of the neck in the opening 40 minutes.

After a dour, error-strewn opening eight minutes, Sarries got the breakthrough when wing Penney went over on the left after the Men in Black exploited a huge overlap from a scrum. Thomas Castaignede drew his man before allowing Penney a walk over.

Bath, urged on by a large, vocal away support, they levelled the scores courtesy of an embarrassing Castaignede error. The Frenchman dallied on Barkley's long clearance kick and somehow contrived to knock on, handing Bath a five metre scrum. Bory probed for the line before number six Beattie charged over. Barkley converted before Bath stunned the hosts minutes later by extending their lead further.

Picking holes in the Men in Black's all at sea rearguard, Bory and full-back Joe Maddock made two determined runs before Grewcock barged over.

Alan Gaffney's shell-shocked men tried to regroup but a poor knock on by Scarbrough after the ball was flung into his body summed up their disjointed approach play.

The hosts looked sloppy and nervous, the burden of becoming the first Sarries team in almost a decade to reach a final possibly weighing on their broad shoulders.

Jackson's 24th minute penalty gave them fresh impetus but the Premiership's top points scorer was left red-faced a minute later when his intended pass for Scarbrough was easily intercepted by Bory, who dashed 50 metres unopposed to dive under the posts. Barkley nailed the kick and the Men in Black needed to pull something out of the bag quickly if they were to stop the rot.

The response was swift, Penney again getting the better of four men to cross under the posts for his second score of the afternoon after good work by Ben Skirving. Jackson converted and the hosts suddenly looked reborn.

Castaignede broke two tackles to set them on the attack again before Bath coughed up another penalty which Jackson gobbled up from just inside Bath's half.

Shaun Berne, the Bath centre who had caused Sarries all sorts of problems in the first half, then slipped Shane Byrne's missed tackles before shrugging of the attentions of Neil de Kock to cross the whitewash. Barkley maintained his 100% success rate with the conversion to give Bath a deserved 18-28 half-time lead.

Jackson missed a straight forward chance to level the scores three minutes into the restart after Bath failed to roll away in the tackle, the Kiwi pulling his shot woefully wide.

The Men in Black knew they needed an early score to change the complexion of the game and it duly arrived in the 46th minute. After several phases of play, Jackson offloaded for Dan Scarbrough to jink over on the left and added the extras to put the hosts within three points.

However, Barkley nailed his first penalty of the afternoon minutes later before Bory summed up his side's steely determination by forcing Scarbrough into conceding a penalty after driving him back five metres.

After Sarries survived another scare, they turned the ball over but Penney lacked support after embarking on another surging run through the middle after cutting in from the left.

With 10 minutes left, Kris Chesney was held up by Michael Lipman and Barkley on the line after a marauding drive forward. From the resulting scrum, the ball was worked out wide and Scarbrough left Maddock flat-footed to cross on the right. Jackson pushed his touchline conversion wide before Bath shut up shop to extend Sarries' painfully long trophy drought to another year.

Saracens: Castaignede, Scarbrough, Sorrell, Farrell, Penney, Jackson, de Kock (Dickens, 41); Lloyd, Byrne (Cairns, 67), Visagie (C Johnston, 47), Vyvyan, Raiwalui (cpt, Fullarton 65), Chesney, Hill (Seymour, 57), Skirving.

Bath: Maddock (Walker, 73), Cheeseman, Fuimaono-Sapolu, Barkley, Bory, Berne, Walshe; Barnes, Mears (Dixon, 67), Stevens, Borthwick, Grewcock, Beattie (Short, 65), Lipman, Feaunati (Goodman, 67).

Attendance: 5,359.

Referee: Nigel Owens.