When the teams were announced for Bath Rugby’s Investec Champions Cup Round 4 tussle with Edinburgh Rugby at The Rec, it seemed that a big home win was on the cards. And so it proved.
Ruthless Bath Rugby scored nine tries as they hammered a depleted Edinburgh Rugby side here at The Rec in their final Investec Champions Cup Pool 2 game | Photo © Richard Briggs
The Blue, Black & White’s powerful line-up proved far too good for an Edinburgh side without key players due to injuries and rest protocols, Johann van Graan’s outfit romping to a 63-10 victory to see them finish on top of Pool 2 with three wins and one loss from their four matches.
The visitors would have headed the group if they had secured a shock win on what became yet another wet night at the stadium. But that away victory was never going to happen – and Edinburgh ended up finishing fourth in the mini league but still qualifying for the Round of 16.
Ruthless Bath won the Friday 16th January encounter by nine converted tries to one converted try and a penalty, the latter putting Edinburgh into a third-minute lead that they maintained for 12 minutes, despite relentless pressure from the hosts.
Yes, the opponents were nothing special but the Blue, Black & White produced some brilliant and eye-catching rugby, especially in the second half when the backs ran Edinburgh ragged.
Overall, the home team had 55% of the possession and a whopping 69% of the territory – and they gained 624 metres in attack, Edinburgh gaining 307 metres.
A key statistic was that Bath conceded only three penalties – the United Rugby Championship unit gave away 10.
A 41-metre penalty from in front of the posts by Ross Thompson handed Edinburgh their early advantage.
Then the Blue, Black & White exerted tremendous pressure and the only surprise was that it took them until the 15th minute to score their first points of the evening. Thomas du Toit bulldozed over from four metres to the right of the posts and Finn Russell converted.
Three minutes later, Alfie Barbeary seemed to have scored on the left from a rolling maul but the home side were instead awarded a penalty try by Italian referee Gianluca Gnecchi, who had an excellent game.
Beno Obano scored on the left from five metres in the 31st minute and Russell added the extras to stretch the lead to 21-3.
But Edinburgh produced a superb, albeit surprise, try five minutes later, Harry Paterson and captain Ben Vellacott combining to set up Piers O’Conor to run in from 22 metres and touch down under the posts. Thompson majored. However, the men from the Scottish capital did not get a sniff of any more tries.
Bath – who will receive Saracens in the Round of 16 – secured the bonus point before the interval. With the clock in the red, Tom Dunn scored from short range on the right – and the last act of the half saw Russell convert.
Great work by Joe Cokanasiga on the right wing brought the hosts their fifth try. In the 57th minute he received the ball 25 metres out, charged forward, spun to deceive a posse of defenders near the right corner and cut across the in-goal area to score behind the posts, Russell adding the two points.
And Cokanasiga turned provider in the 61st minute, making a great run and releasing Ben Spencer 10 metres out to touch down behind the posts, Russell successful from the tee to make the score 42-10.
Having already brought on Santi Carreras and Ted Hill, head of rugby van Graan emptied his bench in the 64th minute.
The fresh legs left Edinburgh on the rack and they conceded another try in the 68th minute, Henry Arundell spotting a gap and bursting through from 10 metres to score on the right. Russell majored.
Cokanasiga scored behind the posts in the 71st minute – this after a great dash on the left wing by Arundell – to take Bath’s tally past 50 points, and Russell again converted.
The Blue, Black & White completed their try scoring when, in the 75th minute, Tom Carr-Smith sent a lofted pass to Max Ojomoh who dived over in the left corner. Russell booted a superb conversion.
But it was so nearly a 10-try display from the hosts. In the final minute, Dan Frost ploughed ahead up the middle and passed to Russell – but, to the dismay of Bath fans in the capacity crowd of 14,509, the Scotland star dropped the ball on the run-in for what would have been a certain score.
An immense performance from Barbeary earned him the Investec man-of-the-match award for the second game running. It was, though, his third successive player-of-the-match accolade, as he also received the Gallagher PREM gong for his supreme efforts in the league win over Exeter Chiefs on Saturday 3rd January.
Bath starting XV: 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Ross Molony, 6 Guy Pepper 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 9 Ben Spencer, 10 Finn Russell, 11 Henry Arundell, 12 Max Ojomoh, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Tom de Glanville.
Bath replacements: 16 Dan Frost, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Ted Hill, 20 Miles Reid, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Santi Carreras, 23 Cameron Redpath.
Edinburgh starting XV: 1 James Whitcombe, 2 Ewan Ashman, 3 Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 5 Glen Young, 6 Tom Dodd, 7 Freddy Douglas, 8 Ben Muncaster, 9 Ben Vellacott, 10 Ross Thompson, 11 Malelili Satala, 12 James Lang, 13 Piers O’Conor, 14 Darcy Graham, 15 Henry Paterson.
Edinburgh replacements: 16 Harri Morris, 17 Mikey Jones, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Euan McVie, 20 Connor Boyle, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Jack Brown.
Round of 16 pairings: Union Bordeaux Begles v Leicester Tigers, Glasgow Warriors v Vodacom Bulls, RC Toulon v DHL Stormers, Toulouse v Bristol Bears, Bath v Saracens, Leinster Rugby v Edinburgh, Northampton Saints v Castres Olympique, Harlequins vs Sale Sharks.
Bath now return to PREM action, facing Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm Stadium in Round 10 on Friday 23rd January (7.45pm).
Tickets are available here.
