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The Johann van Graan take on Bath's dramatic win at Harlequins
Johann van Graan credited Bath’s ability to grow stronger when their players had been sent to the sin bin for Saturday’s dramatic 26-24 Gallagher Premiership victory at Harlequins.
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Bath took the lead for the first time in the 77th minute when Francois van Wyk went over in the left corner and the try was enough to snatch a win that had been Quins’ for the taking.
Three of Bath’s four tries were scored when Tom Dunn and Guy Pepper had left the field because of yellow cards and it was this resilience in the face of adversity that pleased Van Graan most.
“It’s an 80-minute game,” said van Graan, whose team sit second in the Premiership.
“We spoke in the week about this being a heavyweight boxing fight. Two very good teams and it was a very physical game with big collisions. I’m very thrilled with this one.
“The biggest thing for me was that when we were down to 14 players twice, we were actually the stronger team. The other 14 guys filled the space that had been left.
“We took an enormous amount of pressure between minutes 40 to 60 and then we got a foothold in the game.
“Our scrum went very well and once we were five or six yards from the try-line we created havoc.
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“We have worked hard on our execution under pressure and it showed here. It was a really good team try for our fourth in the corner.
“It’s important through the season to win big games away from home and that’s three on the bounce from us now.”
Bath’s fourth victory of the campaign came despite the loss of Cameron Redpath to muscle tightness during the warm-up and Alfie Barbeary to concussion in the 10th minute. A bug threatened to thin their numbers further.
“We had a bit of sickness in camp just before the game. One or two players were affected. It wasn’t a big drama in terms of the whole group,” Van Graan said.
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“Once we got to the end of the warm-up I looked at them and they nodded and were ready to go. They performed really well. It was just about getting the job done.”
Harlequins led 24-14 heading into the last quarter were camped in the opposition half, but they were unable to find the points needed to kill off the game.
“We didn’t take enough points from pressure we created. We forced yellow cards and forced everything bar scores,” Quins boss Danny Wilson said.
“In the last 10 minutes we handed them opportunities by falling our system in defence and in discipline. They took their opportunities and deserved their win.”
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