The University of Bath won the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Milk Championship for the first time to secure a superb national trophy double for the campaign.
The University of Bath secured a national trophy double for the season by beating Loughborough University here at Rodney Parade, Newport, in the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Milk Championship final | Photo © Richard Briggs
Bath overpowered Loughborough University in the second half of the final at Rodney Parade, Newport, Gwent, on Wednesday 22nd April, having already landed their maiden Super Rugby title.
The East Midlanders must be sick of the sight of Bath, having been pushed into the Super Rugby runners-up spot by them and now being thumped 41-14 in the Milk Championship showpiece after the first half ended level at 7-7.
Aaron James, the University of Bath’s head of rugby, said after the latest success: “I’m a bit emotional, we got there.
“The players were outstanding and the effort from the whole club was outstanding.
“This has been a build-up over a number of years and hundreds of people have been involved in this across the club, the university, our sponsors and partners.
“Thank you to everyone who’s contributed – I’m so proud.
“It comes back to environment and culture. What we’ve built on and off the pitch is really special.
“We’ve got a performance squad of 70 and only 23 of them got to run out in the final but they’ve all been part of it.
“It’ll be an emotional goodbye to the players graduating but they’re leaving with trophies and medals. They’ve been amazing.
“We’re going to enjoy the next couple of days but on Monday we go again and we’ll try to do this again.
“We want to build on this momentum and keep developing the next group of special players.”
Flanker Iwan Coyle, who scored one of the winners’ five tries and was man of the match, said: “It was a tough game and we knew it would be.
“We knew Loughborough would come at us in the first 40 minutes so we had to stick at it and the replacements had a big impact when they came on.
“The belief and the want to win was the difference.
“We’ve won 14 on the bounce now and we have that belief in each other.”
Tyler Offiah sliced through the Loughborough defence to give Bath a 10th-minute lead, Will Roue adding the extras.
But Tom Rowe replied on the stroke of half-time for Loughborough and Ben Taylor’s conversion levelled the scores.
Bath had dominated the physical exchanges, though, and that pressure told in the second period as they pulled clear.
They needed just three minutes to restore their lead, centre Luc Anfield forcing his way over and Roue – who had a 100% success rate from the tee – obliging with the extras before slotting over a penalty shortly afterwards.
Offiah bounced off two attempted tackles to score Bath’s third try, Roue converting.
And Loughborough’s resistance was breached again when Coyle barged over, Roue booting the two points and then kicking another penalty.
Theo Mayell pulled back a try – Taylor landing the extra points – but Bath had the final word when, from the last move of the game, an incisive break from Austin Emens sparked a flowing backs move that ended with Harry Walker touching down in the corner, Roue majoring.
University of Bath starting XV: 1 Claudius Wheeler, 2 Max Pearce, 3 Alfie Griffin, 4 Isaac Sprenger, 5 Albert Dmitriev, 6 Connor Treacey, 7 Iwan Coyle, 8 Will Keylock, 9 Isaac Mears, 10 Will Roue, 11 Tyler Offiah, 12 Luc Anfield, 13 Jack Harrison, 14 Austin Emens, 15 Freddy Rossigneux.
University of Bath replacements: 16 Oscar Thomas, 17 Jacob Yates, 18 Diamond Ayiehfor, 19 Aiden Ainsworth-Cave, 20 Alex Ridgway, 21 Roman Andrews, 22 James Beverley, 23 Harry Walker.
Meanwhile, the Davis Access Bath & District Combination Cup final will be between Trowbridge and Chippenham, who will do battle at The Rec on Wednesday 6th May (7.45pm).
In the semis on 22nd April, Trowbridge overcame guests Midsomer Norton 46-21 and Chippenham triumphed 33-24 at Keynsham.
The Davis Access Bath & District Combination Vase semi-finals will be played on Wednesday 29th April, Oldfield Old Boys entertaining Melksham and Westbury receiving Corsham.
The Vase final will precede the Cup showpiece at The Rec on 6th May, getting under way at 6pm.
