The Bath vs Bristol derby turned into a fascinating race against time on Saturday.
A dominant Bristol Bears side, bolstered by a giant pack, raced out to a 21-0 lead at the Rec, with hooker Harry Thacker touching down for two maul tries and winger Siva Naulago finishing in the corner to race to a huge lead inside the opening 15 minutes.
But when Naulago was correctly dismissed in the 34th minute for a high tackle on Will Butt the nature of the game changed irreversibly.
Having collapsed when losing Naulago to a red card just three games ago against London Irish the question was whether a 21-point league could be protected.
With Harry Thacker also off the field for a yellow card, 13-man Bristol conceded just before the break as Semesa Rokoduguni touched down in the corner from an inevitable overlap, however, Bears fly-half Callum Sheedy added a penalty with the final play of the half to go in 24-5 up.
But Bristol spent the rest of the game on the backfoot, and conceded two quick tries early in the second half with Jonathan Joseph and Taulupe Faletau touching down while the visitors were down to 13 again with Sheedy in the sin bin, to make it 19-24.
Remarkably the Bears held onto their slender lead until the 72nd minute when Joe Cokanasiga scored in the corner for his third try in two appearances off the bench this season having just returned from a knee injury. Danny Cipriani's missed conversion saw the scoreboard on the South Stand locked at 24-24.
In the closing moments, a key break from Semi Radradra handed Sheedy a chance to knock over his fifth successful kick of the day after Bath conceded a penalty in front of the posts and the visitors looked to have snatched an unlikely victory.
But Bath finally reeled in their rivals with the clock four minutes into the red, with Tom de Glanville crossing for a try untouched after the Bears had been dragged in narrow in defence to combat the Blue, Black and Whites pack driving for the line.
The Bears now find themselves still in 10th place in the table but nine points off eighth which brings qualification for the Heineken Champions Cup with it.
South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performances by the Bears players at the Recreation Ground.
15. Ioan Lloyd - 6
By his high standards the full-back had a quiet day in attack as he was reduced to just 29m gained and was generally out-played by opposite number Tom de Glanville.
Lloyd still showed his class with an accurate scoring pass for Naulago’s try and he displayed his useful versatility by stepping in at fly-half when Callum Sheedy was yellow carded.
While he was unable to stop Rokodunguni for his try he showed some impressive physical prowess in defence throughout.
14. Siva Naulago - 3
The winger finished his try in the 14th minute like the world-class athlete he is, dotting the ball down in the corner despite three Bath defenders - Max Clark, Will But and Tom de Glanville - all trying to force him into touch.
But…. the high tackle on Butt for the red card in the 34th minte was the decisive moment in the game and it was a red all day long, even with Butt dipping into the contact slightly.
Having only returned from a two-game suspension for a red card against London Irish, the disciplinary panel could well throw the book at him.
At the time of his departure, the Bears were 21-0 up, the rest is history. His mistake cost his side the game, and he knew it instantly.
13. Semi Radradra - 5
It is sad to say but the Fijian star looks an absolute shadow of his former self.
For weeks I have been trying to work out why Bristol have been used Radradra as the hit up power option rather than look to put him through gaps on the outside as they did so successfully last season on their way to finishing top of the table; I fear the answer is because currently he isn’t in a physical condition to make those scintillating runs anymore with his operated on knee heavily strapped.
With four minutes left in the match Radradra made a break that should have finished in a try, he dummied to go outside, broke the tackle of Max Clark and marched into empty field. Last season that would have been the end of the story and he would have ran in for a try himself, instead on Saturday he was hauled back in and then his supporting man Theo Strang half tripped to allow Bath to get back and make a try-saving tackle.
Solid, but solid from a man regularly labelled 'the best player in the world' is disappointing.
12. Antoine Frisch - 6
The centre had a fine display showing his ability to go through a gap, off-load and turn the ball over in contact, stripping Max Clark of the ball in one key contact.
The Frenchman could be in for a decent run in the 12 jersey as the Bears continue to search for a replacement for Siale Piutau.
11. Alapati Leiua - 6
The Samoan winger made a great joint tackle on Joe Cokanasiga to stop the giant winger scoring but failed to have a huge impact with ball in hand, making 29m from six carries as Bristol struggled to create and find gaps in the Bath defence.
10. Callum Sheedy - 5
The fly-half had a strong display generally, passing the ball nicely and kicking brilliantly from both the tee - 100 percent and five out of five - and out of hand to give the Bears a 21-0 early lead, but his harsh yellow card for an adjudged deliberate knock-on early in the second half, with Bristol already without Naulago, was incredibly costly.
While Sheedy was watching from the sidelines his side shipped 14 points with tries from Jonathan Joseph and Taulupe Faletau.
9. Oscar Lennon - 7
The greatest compliment you can give Lennon, who joined the club this week from Championship side Hartpury as injury cover, is you would have had no idea it was his Premiership debut as he fitted in perfectly into the Bears side.
Lennon passed well, box kicked even better, and had a couple of nice snipes.
He was missed when he departed and on reflection Pat Lam will probably have wished he kept him on for 80 minutes as his replacement Strang managed to trip over when in prime position to score a likely winning try and then gave away a penalty, and conceded a yellow card, when the Bears' looked to have stopped what turned out to be Bath's winning drive.
Ewan Richards made a key break to get within a couple of metres of the line but his offload to Josh Bayliss went forward, however the Bears and Strang were penalised for a tackle off the ball on the Scottish international flanker to give the hosts one last throw of the dice which resulted in the winning try.
After the final whistle, Lam said: "I thought Oscar did a great job."
1. Jake Woolmore - 7
The loosehead prop performed ably at the setpiece to give the Bears a strong foundation to attack from.
2. Harry Thacker - 7
The hooker scored a brace of tries from the back of lineout drives and threw well all game. Conceded a yellow card just before half time for a breakdown offence as the Bears were under pressure.
3. Jake Armstrong - 8
The club’s fourth choice tighthead had probably his best game for the club as he provided a solid platform at the scrum, in fact better than that, as he gave the Bears a significant edge early in the match in both the scrum and maul.
4. Dave Attwood - 7
The former Bath man started the game as he meant to go on with a big cutting tackle on Taulupe Faletau. He gave Bristol the physical edge while on the pitch but was withdrawn for Steven Luatua relatively early.
5. Joe Joyce - 7
The Bristolian lock, for whom this derby means more than everything, was central to the Bears' early forward dominance that led to two maul tries and then was doggedly resistant to the fate facing his side when down to 14/13 men. Finished as the Bears' top tackler with 16 of 17 completed.
6. Chris Vui - 8
The second row really stepped up to the plate when Bristol’s backs were against the wall in the second half, dragging his side forward with some huge defiant carries.
7. Jake Heenan - 6
The flanker made a brilliant recovery tackle on Joe Cokanasiga along with teammate Alapati Leiua to force the winger from scoring what looked like a certain try and hold off the Bears’ stay of execution until the clock ticked into the red.
8. Sam Jeffries - 6
The Bears’ fourth choice number eight, behind Fitz Harding, Nathan Hughes and Steven Luatua, just didn’t have the ball carrying ability - or opportunities - to trouble Bath.
Replacements:
16. Bryan Byrne - 6
17. Yann Thomas - 6
18. Ashley Challenger - 6
19. Steven Luatua - 6
20. Dan Thomas - 7
21. Theo Strang - 3
22. Tiff Eden - N/A
23. Piers O’Conor - 6
