Bath Rugby’s youngsters can hold their heads high, despite losing narrowly to Gloucester Rugby on Friday 14th November.
Bath Rugby dominated possession and territory but fell to a narrow defeat at Gloucester Rugby in PREM Rugby Cup Round 4 | Photo © Richard Briggs
The Blue, Black & White fielded a side with an average age of 21 for the PREM Rugby Cup Round 4 tie, led twice but fell heartbreakingly short as the Cherry & Whites recovered to win the derby 19-17.
Although Gloucester fielded a lot of youngsters, they included some experienced heads in their line-up. Among them were Dian Bleuler – previously with Munster and Sharks – and Nepu Laulala, the latter having played 53 times for New Zealand including appearances at two Rugby World Cups.
However, Bath – who gave debuts to replacements Ioan Emanuel, Connor Treacey and Will Roue – had 63% of the possession and 66% of the territory and gained 507 metres on the artificial surface. The hosts gained 396 metres and were forced to make 207 tackles.
The visitors’ undoing was a failure to convert their pressure into more points. But that should not detract from their efforts in the cauldron that is Kingsholm.
The crowd of 10,226 featured a very noisy Shed whose inhabitants subjected the Blue, Black & White to jeers, rugby league-style, whenever they made a mistake.
In dreadful weather conditions – the rain bucketed down from Storm Claudia, with Gloucester within a Met Office amber zone – Bath opened the scoring in the third minute. Sam Winters made a great run on the left and, 15 metres out, passed to Austin Emens who went over in the left corner. James Linegar slotted over the extras and Bath led 7-0.
Shortly afterwards, Laulala was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Scott Kirk that put the Bath prop out of the game.
With Laulala still off the pitch, the Cherry & Whites got their first points on the board in the 16th minute. A lofted pass from Jake Morris set up Josh Hathaway and the winger, a Wales international, made the most of the space he was in to bear down on the in-goal area from 15 metres and score in the right corner. A superb conversion by George Barton – who was named man of the match – levelled the scores at 7-7.
But Bath regained the initiative when, in the 22nd minute, Ethan Staddon crossed from short range on the left. James Linegar was narrowly off target from the tee.
Again Gloucester hit back, 18-year-old hooker Kealan Freeman-Price touching down on the left in the 29th minute after Bath gave away possession from a line-out.
The try was followed by most of the players becoming involved in scuffles behind the in-goal area, resulting in the two sections of a freestanding advertising board being separated and pushed back. With calm restored, Barton converted to put the Cherry & Whites 14-12 up.
And the home side struck what proved a decisive blow right on half-time. With the clock showing 44 minutes, Morris offloaded to Will Knight to score in the left corner. Barton’s missed conversion was the final act of the half.
Bath piled on the pressure in the third quarter but had only one try to show for their efforts. It came in the 58th minute, skipper Will Butt releasing Tyler Offiah to dive over in the right corner. Linegar’s conversion attempt rebounded off the left post – but the Blue, Black & White were right back in the hunt at 19-17 behind.
A 42-metre penalty from just to the right of the posts by Barton struck the right stick in the 64th minute.
But Bath had a great chance to regain the lead 10 minutes later. However, Linegar’s 36-metre penalty from just to the right of the posts sailed wide – much to the delight of the Shed – and Gloucester claimed their third victory from four cup outings.
Bath emerged from the game with only a losing bonus point when their endeavours deserved more.
With a loss to Exeter Chiefs and a win over Bristol Bears in their previous cup matches, the trophy holders find themselves lying in third place in Pool A.
Bath starting XV: 1 Scott Kirk, 2 Jasper Spandler, 3 Kieran Verden, 4 Will Jeanes, 5 Harvey Cuckson, 6 Ethan Staddon, 7 Thompson Cowan, 8 George Timmins, 9 Neil le Roux, 10 James Linegar, 11 Sam Winters, 12 Will Butt, 13 Charlie Griffin, 14 Tyler Offiah, 15 Austin Emens.
Bath replacements: 16 Max Pearce, 17 Ioan Emanuel, 18 Mikey Summerfield, 19 Arthur Green, 20 Connor Treacey, 21 Ieuan Davies, 22 Will Roue, 23 Jack Woods.
Gloucester starting XV: 1 Dian Bleuler, 2 Kealan Freeman-Price, 3 Nepo Laulala, 4 Cam Jordan, 5 Hugh Bokenham, 6 Deian Gwynne, 7 Harry Taylor, 8 Will Trenholm, 9 Mikey Austin, 10 George Barton, 11 Jack Cotgreave, 12 Max Knight, 13 Will Knight, 14 Josh Hathaway, 15 Jake Morris.
Gloucester replacements: 16 George Knowles, 17 Archie McArthur, 18 Jono Benz-Salomon, 19 Freddie Stevens, 20 Caio James, 21 Rhys Price, 22 Harrison James, 23 Rob Russell.
Second-placed Sale Sharks will come to The Rec in Round 5 on Saturday 22nd November (3pm).
Tickets are available at https://www.eticketing.co.uk/bathrugby/EDP/Event/Index/2510?position=1.
