Johann van Graan hails ‘phenomenal game’ with Northampton despite Bath’s loss

Johann van Graan believed Bath’s enthralling game with Northampton was a great advert for the Gallagher Premiership as the league leaders went down 35-34 at Franklin’s Gardens thanks to a last-minute penalty from Fin Smith.

It was rough justice on Bath, who showed remarkable resilience to comeback from 19-0 down to outscore their opponents five tries to four, but the two points they picked up still allowed them to extend their lead to six points at the top of the table.

Joe Cokanasiga scored two tries for Bath. Orlando Bailey, Will Stuart and Max Ojomoh were also on the scoresheet, with Finn Russell converting three and adding a penalty.

George Hendy, Fraser Dingwall, James Ramm and Josh Kemeny scored Saints’ tries, with Smith kicking three conversions and three penalties.

“It was a phenomenal game and certainly an emotional roller-coaster, but we’ll just have to take our two points and move on,” Bath director of rugby Johann van Graan said.

“Saints had so much speed and accuracy early on and converted well in that opening 20 minutes. but then our power got us back into the game.

“The guys are obviously gutted as they fought so hard, but we showed we are tough to beat and if we go anywhere in the world we’ll fight all the way.

“We showed our ability to bounce back when we lost Guy (Pepper) and Will (Muir) to hamstring injuries early on and then later Jaco Coetzee with a head injury.”

A defeat for the reigning champions would surely have ruled them out of contention for a play-off spot this season, but the bonus-point victory kept them in mix in eighth place and still eight points off with eight games remaining.

“It was a massive relief when Fin knocked the kick over as we had played some really good stuff, but became scrappy in the second half,” Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson said.

“We were 19-0 up, but went into our shells in the third quarter and struggled to exit quickly.

“We obviously will take loads from the win as you can’t coach grit, but there will only be a change in momentum and fortune if we can kick on from here in our next games.

“We showed great character after going behind in the 77th minute as we reclaimed a short kick-off and then went through the phases to win a penalty.”

Smith claimed the man-of-the-match award with a measured performance and a tally of 15 points.

“Before the last kick, I genuinely thought that this better go over as by missing the previous two, I thought I’d let the boys down,” Smith said.

“I wasn’t super-confidence, but it went over and it was one of the biggest kicks of my career.

“It felt massive as this game was make or break for us and if we had lost that would have been the end of our league season.”