Bath shock Harlequins after thrilling try-fest in Twickenham
Attack was the order of the day as Bath edged to a 45-35 win over Harlequins during a thrilling back-and-forth game at Twickenham.
Bath were the first team on the scoreboard inside the first five minutes, hooker Tom Dunn the man to touch down in the corner before Ben Spencer added the extras for an early 7-0 lead.
Harlequins responded instantly, spinning the ball through the backs after a great line-breaking run from Lewis Gjaltema before Dino Lamb offloaded to Cadan Murley to sprint for the line.
Marcus Smith’s conversion brought the scores level before a Spencer penalty gave his side a 10-7 lead.
Soon after, Harlequins were back in the lead, in almost a carbon copy of their first try, Luke Wallace had the honour of crossing after a pass from Louis Lynagh, with Smith adding the conversion under the posts to put them up 14-10.
Two quick yellow cards for Andre Esterhuizen for a high tackle and Murley for a deliberate knock-on around the half-hour mark gave Bath a chance to dominate play, and they took quick advantage with GJ van Velze crashing under the posts from close range, Spencer duly converting for a 17-14 lead.
Not deterred by the numbers disadvantage though, Harlequins hit back, Smith offloading to Joe Marchant, who after a 20-metre burst, fed the ball back to Smith to race for the line and score, before converting to give them a 21-17 lead.
There was still time for the visitors to get another try of their own though, Orlando Bailey’s cross-kick falling to Joe Cokanasiga after Josh Bassett had misread the bounce, his offload found Ollie Lawrence who held off the covering defence to touch down, Spencer’s conversion giving them a 24-21 lead going into the break.
After a frantic first half, the second half began as more of a slog, before Gjaltema scored Harlequins’ bonus-point try under the posts off the back of a ruck, all set up from Lynagh’s incredible run from halfway. Smith’s conversion made it 28-24 with just over 20 minutes to go.
Five minutes later, Bath retook the lead with a bonus-point try of their own, Niall Annett crossing after a rolling maul from a lineout, before extending it minutes later through Cokanasiga’s burst through the line from 15 metres out, and Spencer was perfect with both kicks to give them a 38-28 lead with 10 minutes to play.
Alex Dombrandt responded immediately, diving over after Smith’s incredible run was cut a few metres short, his conversion bringing the score back to 38-35.
However, the game was finally settled by Max Ojomoh’s juggling effort following Lawrence’s break with three minutes to go, Piers Francis’ conversion making it 45-35 to end a sensational afternoon.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments