Bath suffer fresh Champions Cup defeat as Clermont claim Rec spoils
Bath suffered a third successive Champions Cup defeat after Clermont Auvergne turned on the pace and power to secure a bonus-point 34-17 win with three late tries at the Rec.
Veteran Scotland scrum-half Greig Laidlaw came off the replacements bench to kick Clermont into the lead with two penalties early in the second half before the French side’s backs let rip.
Right wing Samuel Ezeala crossed twice on his Champions Cup debut and also laid on a try for flanker Alexandre Lapandry, with Laidlaw adding the extras for all three.
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Clermont’s other try came from Kiwi centre George Moala in the first half, while Bath – who both started and finished the scoring – crossed through Rhys Priestland and Jonathan Joseph.
Handling errors dogged Bath’s early efforts to gain the upper hand in this Pool 3 clash but Clermont’s indiscipline gave the home side plenty of encouragement.
Two penalties in quick succession established field position in the visitors’ 22 and strong carrying by Jamie Roberts, Elliott Stooke and Will Stuart softened up the Clermont defence for the opening score after 13 minutes.
Priestland found a surprising amount of space on the short side of a ruck and scored with ease, with the Wales fly-half converting his own try.
‘I’d love to think I can make a difference (at international level). I’d like to think I can cause damage… I’d love to test myself if that opportunity comes’
– @duhanvdmerwe tells @JLyall93 about @EdinburghRugby and the circuitous route to prove himself
https://t.co/MYjaruxPYU— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 6, 2019
Bath, not the most adventurous of teams in the early months of the season, suddenly flicked the switch and began running the ball from quick line-outs and tapped penalties on their own 22.
Too often the pass or off-load went to ground but Roberts continued to test the Clermont defence and Priestland even spurned a certain three points in front of the posts in favour of a line-out.
The Challenge Cup holders rode their luck but managed to draw level after 27 minutes, as Moala brushed aside two tackles to score at the other end after a catch-and-drive by his forwards. Skipper Morgan Parra converted to make it 7-7.
Making a seemingly conscious effort to break away from the limited game plan of recent weeks, Bath continued to move the ball wide and encouraged their wings to roam.
However, Clermont came out after half-time in more focused mood and replacement scrum-half Laidlaw kicked an angled penalty to put them ahead.
Bath quickly responded and the flying Tom Homer combined beautifully with Stooke, who galloped up through the middle to get the hosts back on the attack. The follow-up play lacked fluency but Priestland landed a penalty to level at 10-10, with half an hour to play.
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The Premiership outfit continued to leak penalties, however, and Laidlaw was on target at the other end to promptly restore Clermont’s three-point advantage.
Another Laidlaw effort from near halfway fell short but Bath were very much on notice.
The visitors had shown little of the undoubted pace and power in their back line until Isaia Toeava broke free, supported by centre partner Moala. Toeava handled again before Ezeala touched down at the posts.
Barcelona-born teenager Ezeala was unstoppable now, breaking free from the restart to send Lapandry over for a third try and, shortly after, latching on to Camille Lopez’s grubber kick to give Clermont a bonus point.
With Laidlaw adding the extras for each, the visitors had wracked up 21 unanswered points in less than 10 minutes, and Bath could only respond with a consolation try from Joseph that was converted by Freddie Burns.
– Press Association
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments