Bath suffered a narrow defeat at The Recreation Ground
©Steve Haag
Bath Rugby 13-15 Bristol Bears, The Recreation Ground
Piers Francis missed a 76th-minute penalty as Bristol Bears edged past Bath Rugby 15-13 in Gallagher’s Premiership round 18 match at The Recreation Ground on Friday.
This is Bath’s tenth defeat in 14 games as they languish at the bottom of Gallagher’s Premier League table, while Bristol moved up to ninth following the win.
Bath’s troubles continued as Piers Francis missed an early penalty goal in the 8th minute before Semi Radradra created the flurry for James Williams to score and AJ MacGinty kicked the conversion to make it 0–7.
Francis missed a chance to cut the arrears when another three-pointer from Francis went wide, but they soon got their first points when a short-range touch allowed Miles Reid to dive under the posts. Francis got the conversion to level the scores.
As half time approached, Francis helped the home team gain the lead with a contested penalty kick as the first half was completed with the home team holding a slim 10-7 lead.
Two minutes into the second half, a long pass from Radradra allowed Siva Naulago past Matt Gallagher to cross, but Williams missed the conversion and made it 10-12.
In the 52nd minute, the visitors were temporarily reduced to 14 players with MacGinty binned and Francis scoring the penalty goal to make it 13–12. Just as MacGinty was returning from the sin-bin, he kicked the decisive penalty goal with 15 minutes remaining as Bath’s indiscipline cost them dearly and allowed Pat Lam’s side to complete a thrilling victory.
Team Lineup:
Bathroom: De Glanville, Cokanasiga, Redpath, Ojomoh, Gallagher, Francis, Spencer (c); Obano, Annett, Rae, Attwood, Roux, Bayliss, Underhill, Reid.
Bookings: Dunn, Schoeman, Stuart, Van Velze, Coetzee, Schreude, Bailey, Cloete.
bristol bears: Piutau, Naulago, Radradra, Williams, Ibitoye, MacGinty, Randall (c); Thomas, Thacker, Lahiff, Joyce, Vui, Jeffries, Harding, Bradbury.
Bookings: B Byrne, Woolmore, Kloska, Heenan, Lewis, Uren, Bedlow, Lloyd.