Bath quartet among the points in Nations Championship Round 2

Bath Rugby second row Guy Pepper scored a try as England destroyed Fiji in the Nations Championship on Saturday 11th July.

Four Bath Rugby players who turned out in Nations Championship Round 2 on Saturday 11th July scored points | Photo © Richard Briggs

Pepper – the only Blue, Black & White star in the England matchday squad for the encounter at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool – played the full game and drove over in the 27th minute.

Pepper’s score – his first for his country – came just after the Pacific Islanders had Levani Botia yellow-carded in the Round 2 fixture.

England, the away side as Fiji are playing their home games in the UK this summer, romped to a 73-8 victory, having led 35-3 at half-time.

However, Fiji played the whole of the second half with only 14 men as scrum-half Simione Kuruvoli was sent off shortly before the break for kicking out at Ellis Genge.

Bath back Santi Carreras scored a try for Argentina as they overcame Wales in a Round 2 fixture at Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario, San Juan, on 11th July.

Carreras – who played the full match and was one of two vice-captains of Los Pumas – touched down just before the interval. Argentina won 35-21.

But while Pepper and Carreras were celebrating wins, there was disappointment for their Blue, Black & White clubmates Finn Russell and Josh Bayliss.

Fly-half Russell played the full 80 minutes and back row Bayliss came off the bench to score a try as Scotland suffered a 42-28 loss to South Africa at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, in Round 2 on 11th July.

Bayliss came on for the second half and crossed with 12 minutes remaining.

Russell also got among the points, majoring all four of the Scots’ tries. His final conversion left the guests seven points adrift with nine minutes to go, only for the Springboks to add more daylight between the teams.

With Round 3 to come on Saturday 18th July, Scotland are third and England fourth respectively in the Northern Hemisphere standings – and Argentina lie third in the Southern Hemisphere table.