Grewcock's sending off caps ugly day for outclassed Bath

Danny Grewcock yesterday jeopardised his chances of taking part in England's autumn programme after being sent off following an incident in first-half injury time at Vicarage Road.

The episode, which was witnessed by the England manager Clive Woodward, saw the Bath captain dismissed for illegal use of the boot and his Saracens counterpart Kyran Bracken being led off with a gashed jaw.

Although Bracken, who re-emerged for the second half with sticking plaster running up the right side of his jaw, later exonerated his former club-mate, it does not look too good for Grewcock, England or Bath. Colin High, Twickenham's Elite Referee Manager, should get Bristol referee Steve Leyshon's report today and a video recording of the first-half incident will be made available to the authorities by Tuesday.

If all goes to plan then Grewcock, who became only the second player in England's history, after Mike Burton in 1975, to be sent off in the first Test against New Zealand in Dunedin in 1998, could expect to be called before a disciplinary panel within the next seven to 10 days.

Bracken explained how the pair of them were trapped under a mess of bodies: "Our scrum drove over the top of Danny and me. We were both kicking out to get out of the way and his boot connected with my face. It was an accident. I hope that the sending-off will be sufficient punishment."

He sportingly added that he would be prepared to speak in Grewcock's defence at a disciplinary hearing. But if no plea of mitigation from Bracken is accepted by the RFU panel then second row Grewcock, whose misdemeanour was spotted by touch judge Ashley Rowden, faces a ban of at least 84 days, the standard punishment when a boot has been applied to an opponent's head.

Unfortunately for Grewcock, a 12-week suspension would take him to the beginning of December, well past England's test against South Africa at Twickenham on 23 November.

The incident rather detracted from a sound Saracens performance in the first half and may well have been a catalyst for the way the game went into a steep decline after the interval. Mistakes abounded and as full-time approached there was a series of skirmishes which helped neither side and ultimately distracted Saracens from their secondary purpose – to secure a fourth try and the concomitant bonus point.

The Saracens head coach Wayne Shelford said: "The second half was very, very ugly. At times, at the set piece, the referee really did not seem to have a clue. He was losing control of the match even when Danny Grewcock was on. He allowed the game to flare up the way it did. But we have to live with the referees."

Poor refereeing or not, overall Saracens outclassed Bath. The West Country side were, in turn, reckless, ragged and wretched. They had little answer to Saracens' superior driving and scrummaging. Out wide all the danger came from Saracens, winger Darragh O'Mahony threatened a number of times before and after setting up Thomas Castaignede for his 40th minute try.

For all the bad vibes throughout, the Beach Boys' song Good Vibrations still sounded out four times to signal success from Andy Goode's goal-kicking. Although the 14 of Bath did manage some semblance of order and authority in the midst of an ill-tempered second half, they never remotely looked like troubling Saracens.

Saracens: Tries Russell, Castaignede, Ross; Conversions Goode, Little; Penalties Goode 3. Bath: Penalty Barkley.

Saracens: T Castaignede (A Wynnan, 59); B Johnston, T Shanklin, K Sorrell, D O'Mahony; A Goode (N Little, 66), K Bracken (capt) (B Sparg, h-t); D Flatman, M Cairns (J Ross, 53), J Marsters, C Yandell, S Hooper (A Benazzi, 59), K Chesney, B Russell, R Hill (K Roche, 80).

Bath: O Barkley; S Danielli (R Thirlby, 66), M Catt, M Tindall (A Crockett, 80), T Voyce; C Malone, G Cooper; D Barnes (S Emms, 46), J Humphreys (L Mears, 52), A Galasso (J Mallett, 64), A Beattie, D Grewcock (capt), G Thomas, N Thomas, A Vander (D Lyle, 22)

Referee: S Leyshon (Bristol)