Rory Sutherland a doubt for Six Nations opener after red card for Worcester
Scotland prop Rory Sutherland could be a doubt for the Six Nations opener against England after he was sent off in the second minute of Worcester’s 22-19 Gallagher Premiership defeat at Bath.
While Bath celebrated a first win of the season at the 13th attempt in all competitions, Worcester forward Sutherland, who was in his comeback game after six weeks out injured, now faces a disciplinary hearing. Scotland host England on February 5.
The British and Irish Lion was dismissed by referee Craig Maxwell-Keys for a head-on-head challenge that forced Bath prop Will Stuart off the pitch.
But Bath, despite playing against 14 men for virtually the whole match, were made to work hard for a victory that was their first since June.
Fly-half Orlando Bailey’s penalty 10 minutes from time broke their Premiership duck this term, while he also added two conversions as Bath posted tries by wing Semesa Rokoduguni, centre Max Ojomoh and full-back Tom de Glanville.
Worcester, without a win from 17 previous visits to the Recreation Ground, matched them try for try as full-back Jamie Shillcock, lock Joe Batley and scrum-half Gareth Simpson touched down, with fly-half Fin Smith kicking two conversions.
Bath remain well adrift at the Premiership basement, but a long overdue success should at least lift spirits ahead of tough Heineken Champions Cup games against La Rochelle and Leinster.
Hooker Tom Doughty made his first Premiership start for Bath, packing down alongside Lewis Boyce and Stuart. Josh Bayliss returned at number eight and scrum-half Ollie Fox was also recalled, but wing Will Muir was a late withdrawal and replaced by Wales international Tom Prydie.
Sutherland returned in a Warriors side that also included former Bath prop Christian Judge, but positive Covid-19 tests meant that fly-half Billy Searle and number eight Sione Vailanu were absent.
England head coach Eddie Jones was among the crowd and the game began in dramatic fashion with Sutherland’s dismissal following several video reviews made by referee Maxwell-Keys.
And Bath capitalised from their first attack after centre Jonathan Joseph’s sharp midfield break helped create space out wide before Rokoduguni applied a clinical finish and Bailey converted.
Worcester, though, made a strong reply and scored their opening try just five minutes later when Shillcock’s angled run saw him touch down despite the attention of two defenders.
But Bath were soon on the the front foot again, with Ojomoh scoring their second try following his midfield partner Joseph’s clever kick into space, and Worcester trailed 14-5 after Bailey converted.
Bath looked to impose themselves on the contest, yet Worcester displayed admirable resilience and reduced their arrears when Batley crashed over for a close-range try, converted by Smith.
And the Warriors went in front following an impressive passage of play as centre Francois Venter’s half-break sent Smith clear, before he delivered a scoring pass to his unmarked half-back partner Simpson.
Smith converted to leave Bath five points adrift, with Worcester good value for their interval advantage.
And Bath’s problems were compounded six minutes into the second period when Bayliss was yellow-carded for illegally stopping a lineout drive, temporarily making it 14 versus 14.
Worcester continued to probe attacking spaces, yet Bath struck next through a 57th-minute try for De Glanville after he gathered Rokoduguni’s pass and sprinted clear.
It set up a tense final quarter at 19-19 and Bailey nudged Bath back in front after 70 minutes when he booted a penalty from 35 metres, and it proved enough to thwart Worcester, who had to be content with a losing bonus-point.
Comments on RugbyPass
An 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!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 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 commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments