They are top of the Guinness Premiership with seven wins out of seven, but Brendan Venter insists that more is to come from Saracens, who have made the best start of any club to a league season for 12 years.

If the director of rugby is proved correct, then a first league title must be well within their reach. Not that Venter will give such consideration a moment’s thought. He will not allow his well-grounded players to get carried away with themselves.

Venter is the first to admit that their exalted position owes more to courage, character and determination than real inspiration from a team he described as “fighters”. But the “magic”, as he called it, within the squad is such that it will not be long before Saracens show another dimension to their game and give one team a real beating.

“I know a time will come when we will be as good an attacking side as we are a defensive one,” Venter said. “We are good fighters, we are difficult to play against. I look forward to the day when we become a rounded side.”

There were two moments of magic in what was otherwise a humdrum game on Saturday.

The first was provided by Schalk Brits, the hooker, who produced one of his trademark bursts at pace that bamboozled Bath. In a 60-metre run from his 22, he left half-hearted tacklers in his wake before setting up a try for Andy Saull, the flanker. For a front-row forward to have such speed is remarkable. Venter called it a “beautiful” moment.

The second was Noah Cato’s try just before half-time when, one on one with David Flatman in a tight corner, the wing burst through the prop and twisted over. Flatman will not enjoy watching the replay.

Later in the second half, had Cato hung on to Saull’s pass instead of knocking on then the finish would not have been as close as it was.

The improvement wrought by Venter since he took over at Vicarage Road this season is impressive, but he refuses to take the credit, insisting that the coaching team lift each other. They play a straightforward game with a dependable fly half in Glen Jackson, who can manoeuvre his team around the pitch. It is Venter, though, who sets the standards.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the only other side he has coached in England are London Irish, who remain Saracens’ closest challengers. The contrast between his position and that of Steve Meehan at Bath, who are second from bottom, could not be more stark. Meehan, the head coach, is finding his job a struggle; this was their second consecutive home league defeat, although one that was a step up from the supine effort against Newcastle Falcons eight days earlier.

Had Ryan Davis’s conversion attempt of Michael Claassens’s late try gone over, Bath would have been celebrating an undeserved win, especially because Claassens, the scrum half, had been guilty of gamesmanship in the lead-up to the try by pretending that Rhys Gill, the replacement prop — who was sent to the sin-bin as a result — had knocked the ball from his hands. After a poor first half, Bath raised their game but created next to nothing against dogged Saracens resistance.

Bath looked out of sorts and there is a sense of drift at the club. Much more of this and Meehan could find himself looking for a new job.

Scorers: Bath: Try: Claassens (71min). Penalty goals: Davis (20), Cuthbert (44). Saracens: Tries: Saull (4), Cato (40). Conversion: Jackson.

Scoring sequence (Bath first): 0-7, 3-7, 3-12 (half-time), 6-12, 11-12.

Bath: J Cuthbert; M Stephenson, T Cheeseman (sin-bin, 38-48), S Hape, M Carraro; R Davis, M Claassens; D Flatman (rep: D Barnes, 60), P Dixon, A Jarvis (rep: M Lilley, 68), P Short, D Grewcock, S Hooper, J Salvi, B Skirving (rep: J Fa’amatuainu, 14).

Saracens: A Goode; N Cato, K Ratuvou, B Barritt, C Wyles; G Jackson, N de Kock; M Agüero (rep: R Gill 55; sin-bin, 67-78), S Brits (rep: F Ongaro, 67), C Nieto (rep: R Skuse, 52), H Vyvyan (rep: J Melck, 56), M Botha (rep: T Ryder, 52), W van Heerden, A Saull, E Joubert.

Referee: C White.

Attendance: 11,500.