England injury concerns as Bath beaten by resurgent Gloucester

Gloucester continued their resurgence to remain at the top of the Gallagher Prem table with a hard-fought 23-5 victory over Bath before a sold-out Kingsholm.

The win looked unlikely when Bath exercised total domination for most of the first half, but somehow Gloucester survived for a morale-boosting victory.

For Bath, it was a disappointing night as they fell to their third consecutive defeat and lost both Santi Carreras and Guy Pepper to injuries.

Freddie Thomas and Max Llewellyn scored Gloucester’s tries with George Barton converting both and adding three penalties, whereas a try from Kepueli Tuipulotu was Bath’s sole response.

Gloucester had the better of the early exchanges before Bath suffered a huge blow when former Gloucester favourite Carreras slipped and damaged an ankle. The full-back received lengthy treatment on the floor before being helped off to be replaced by Ciaran O’Donoghue.

Bath overcame this setback to produce their first attacks of the night. They too turned down two kicks at goal and looked to have taken the lead when Tuipulotu was awarded a try, but TMO replays showed that the hooker had been hauled down short of the line as he tore away from a driving line-out.

Bath were still able to maintain the pressure by besieging the opposition line. Gloucester conceded a number of penalties and eventually their wing Ollie Thorley was yellow-carded for persistent team infringements.

Another try was awarded, this time to Bath’s Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi, but again the try was score was ruled out as the lock lost possession before touching down.

Gloucester conceded 11 penalties in the first 27 minutes and it came as no surprise when prop Ciaran Knight became their second player to enter the sin-bin.

Remarkably it was Gloucester who scored the first points after 31 minutes, when Barton knocked over a penalty after Pepper was adjudged to be off-side.

Gloucester were back up to 14 when Barton soon kicked two penalties in quick succession, but with the last move of the half Bath scored at long last with a try from Tuipulotu from a driving line-out to leave them trailing 9-5 at the interval.

After the restart, Will Joseph became the third Gloucester to be yellow-carded as the centre deliberately knocked on but once again Bath butchered their opportunities and they were made to pay.

Gloucester broke out to secure an attacking platform with Caolan Englefield and Jack Clement making key contributions for Thomas to force his way over.

Bath changed four forwards in one swoop in an attempt to reverse the tide, but it was the signal for Gloucester to raise their intensity with some intricate play from their backs putting the visitors on the back foot.

Bath suffered another blow when their international flanker Guy Pepper was helped off, forcing wing Louie Hennessey to pack down in the back row at the next scrum and their miserable night was complete when Llewellyn forced his way over.