Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Remarkable Bath comeback trumps card-troubled Bristol at the death

By PA
(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Bath ended a run of five successive derby defeats against Bristol with one of the most remarkable comebacks ever seen at The Rec after being 21-0 down inside the first 14 minutes. The winning try by Tom de Glanville came long after the clock had stopped, referee Luke Pearce having awarded the home side a precious last penalty while sending Theo Strang to the sin-bin for an early tackle.

ADVERTISEMENT

It was a third yellow card of the match for Bristol, who also had Siva Naulago sent off in the first half for dangerous play. Bath conceded two near-identical tries in the first six minutes, Harry Thacker scoring in either corner from catch-and-drives for Bristol. Callum Sheedy, kicking immaculately from hand and tee, landed both conversions.

Bristol, fast, hard and aggressive whether in possession or without it, continued to dominate and it was no surprise when they scored the third try, Naulago finishing expertly in the right corner. Sheedy defied the wind to make it 21-0.

Video Spacer

Jack Nowell, Ryan & Max on England Camp, Six Nations and Post Match Beers & Feeds | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 23

Video Spacer

Jack Nowell, Ryan & Max on England Camp, Six Nations and Post Match Beers & Feeds | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 23

Jack Nowell joins us this week to give us an insight into England camp pre and post the Guinness Six Nations game against Wales. He tells Max and Ryan what’s changed in camp since he was last involved and how the squad is prepping for their next game against Ireland. We also hear about the best post-match feeds around the rugby world, how some of the England squad recently got trapped in a lift and just how much the guys enjoy a post-match beer in the dressing room.

Bath skipper Josh Bayliss somehow got under the ball to deny Bristol a fourth and teenage lock Ewen Richards broke from a ruck to charge 30 metres towards the Bristol posts. Suddenly the visitors were under pressure, conceding so many penalties that Thacker was sin-binned on the half-hour.

Bath’s catch-and-drive was nowhere near as effective as their rivals but the scales shifted when Naulago was sent off on 34 minutes for a dangerous tackle, driving his shoulder into the head of Will Butt. The winger had just completed a two-week suspension for the same offence against London Irish on 11 February.

Related

Against 13 players, Bayliss, Ben Spencer and de Glanville were able to find space off the back of a scrum to send Semesa Rokoduguni over in the corner. Danny Cipriani’s conversion drifted across the posts. On the stroke of half-time, Sheedy edged Bristol into a 24-5 lead with a long-range penalty but it was his fault that his side was reduced to 13 men again soon after the restart. 

The Wales fly-half slapped down a pass from Sam Underhill to Spencer and was relieved to get the benefit of the doubt on the penalty try. Bath wasted no time in taking advantage, though, scoring twice in as many minutes as Jonathan Joseph touched down in the corner and Taulupe Faletau crashed over from a short pass after a brilliant catch and break-out by de Glanville. Cipriani converted both tries and the margin was 19-24.

ADVERTISEMENT

Replacement wing Joe Cokanasiga had a try denied by a foot in touch on the hour as Bristol’s seven-man pack struggled to win, let alone hold on to, possession. Cokanasiga was not to be denied, making sure of the bonus point in the 71st minute, but Cipriani could not convert the try.

Instead, it was Bristol who snatched back the lead through Sheedy’s 77th-minute penalty, following a breakaway by Semi Radrada, but the drama was still not quite over as de Glanville had the final say.

ADVERTISEMENT

Classic Wallabies vs British & Irish Legends | First Match | Full Match Replay

Did the Lions loosies get away with murder? And revisiting the Springboks lift | Whistle Watch

The First Test, Visiting The Great Barrier Reef & Poetry with Pierre | Ep 6: The Ultimate Test

KOKO Show | July 22nd | Full Throttle with Brisbane Test Review and Melbourne Preview

New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

USA vs England | Men's International | Full Match Replay

France v Argentina | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

Lions Share | Episode 4

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

S
Soliloquin 1 hour ago
Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

I don’t know the financial story behind the changes that were implemented, but I guess clubs started to lose money, Mourad Boudjellal won it all with Toulon, got tired and wanted to invest in football , the French national team was at its lowest with the QF humiliation in 2015 and the FFR needed to transform the model where no French talent could thrive. Interestingly enough, the JIFF rule came in during the 2009/2010 season, so before the Toulon dynasty, but it was only 40% of the players that to be from trained in French academies. But the crops came a few years later, when they passed it at the current level of 70%.

Again, I’m not a huge fan of under 18 players being scouted and signed. I’d rather have French clubs create sub-academies in French territories like Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia and other places that are culturally closer to RU and geographically closer to rugby lands. Mauvaka, Moefana, Taofifenua bros, Tolofua bros, Falatea - they all came to mainland after starting their rugby adventure back home.

They’re French, they come from economically struggling areas, and rugby can help locally, instead of lumping foreign talents.

And even though many national teams benefit from their players training and playing in France, there are cases where they could avoid trying to get them in the French national team (Tatafu).

In other cases, I feel less shame when the country doesn’t believe in the player like in Meafou’s case.

And there are players that never consider switching to the French national team like Niniashvili, Merckler or even Capuozzo, who is French and doesn’t really speak Italian.

We’ll see with Jacques Willis 🥲


But hey, it’s nothing new to Australia and NZ with PI!

109 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ 'The Wallabies need to convert much better - or Melbourne could be much worse' 'The Wallabies need to convert much better - or Melbourne could be much worse'