“I really enjoyed the last 20 seconds,” said Neal Hatley, the Bath head coach, after witnessing Tom de Glanville’s late, late try seal a miraculous comeback victory against 14-man Bristol in this pulsating West Country derby.
As Bath hunted the winning score at the death, the hugely impressive young lock Ewan Richards had nearly crashed to the try-line. The Bristol replacement Theo Strang was shown a yellow card for an early tackle after a penalty try had looked a strong possibility. The referee, Luke Pearce, decided against it but Bath capitalised on what had become a two-man advantage to create the necessary space for De Glanville to sprint over and send the crowd into raptures.
Bristol collected three yellow cards and a red – Harry Thacker and Callum Sheedy also had 10 minutes in the bin. Throw in Siva Naulago’s red card for a reckless high tackle on Will Butt in the first half and Bristol can consider themselves the architects of their own downfall.
“It’s a tough job isn’t it?” Hatley said of the TMO check that proved the prelude to a stirring finish. “You give a penalty try there, you’re going to have half of the south-west really annoyed at you and half really pleased. I think a penalty and a yellow card was probably right.”
With Wales’s Taulupe Faletau back from Six Nations duty and Sam Underhill also restored in the back row there was every reason for Bath optimism. But Bristol roared into a 21-0 lead thanks to two pushover tries for Thacker, the hooker, and an accomplished finish in the corner by Naulago when he batted off a gaggle of covering defenders. The Bears fly-half Sheedy curled in an exquisite conversion to maximise the damage after the third try.
The Gloucester coach, George Skivington, praised Louis Rees-Zammit’s strength of character after the Wales win’s brilliant solo try sparked a 35-30 victory over Northampton. Rees-Zammit struck with his first touch of the ball after going on as a second-half substitute, mesmerising the Saints defence and finishing in style as Gloucester recovered from 14 points adrift.
The 21-year-old’s Test career suffered its first setback when he was left out of the Wales team by Wayne Pivac for the Six Nations clash against England last weekend. He has his work cut out to reclaim a starting place when title favourites France arrive in Cardiff next Friday, but Rees-Zammit reminded everyone of his class through a memorable score.
“He is so gifted, and he works really hard to get there. He is special in terms of what he can do,” said Skivington. “He has had a disappointing couple of weeks from his point of view – he wants to prove a point, and we back him. He scored a special try at Newcastle, and now he’s done it at Kingsholm.”
Gloucester also claimed a penalty try and there were touchdowns for Harry Elrington, Tom Seabrook and Santiago Socino, with the fly‑half Adam Hastings kicking four conversions as they kept themselves firmly in the play-off mix.
Declan Kidney is refusing to get carried away after London Irish moved into the top four with a 43-12 win against 14-man Worcester. Agustín Creevy crossed for two of Irish’s seven tries, but a red card to the Warriors winger Duhan van der Merwe in the second half made it a foregone conclusion. London Irish are unbeaten in four matches while Worcester have slipped to the bottom.
Kidney said: “The first half was difficult because Worcester defended so well. We managed to take a few chances but we let them in just before half-time, which showed there was a real game in it.
“The card obviously had a bit to do with it, but we probably had a good patch in that third quarter that allowed us to pull away. We’ll enjoy it today and on Monday we will be knuckling down again.”
Irish were 24-5 ahead when Van der Merwe was sent off for elbowing Kyle Rowe, with Creevy powering over twice and further tries for Lucio Cinti and Juan Martín González. Curtis Rona, Paddy Jackson and Ben White crossed after the Scotland winger’s dismissal, while Noah Heward scored two tries for Warriors. PA Media
De Glanville wasted an overlap after being fed by Danny Cipriani, but the hosts encamped themselves in Bristol’s 22 for a spell and although Thacker was sent to the sin-bin for illegally slowing down the ball, Bath were held up over the try-line, still scoreless.
Naulago soon demonstrated his strength in more questionable fashion by flattening Butt and Bristol were reduced to 13, as they would be three times in the 80 minutes. It was about Bath making that advantage count and Semesa Rokoduguni duly sped over to score. Sheedy made it four from four off the tee with a penalty on the stroke of half-time but Bath at least had something to cling to, albeit a solitary five-pointer and a one-man advantage at 24-5 down.
No sooner than Thacker returned from the sin-bin after half-time, Sheedy was given 10 minutes off for a deliberate knock-on. Jonathan Joseph went over after prompting by Cipriani and the deficit was reduced to 12. Cipriani converted and another high-octane break by Bath ended when Rokoduguni was held up short. The ball was recycled and Faletau powered over from short range, Cipriani added the extras and Bath were within five.
A thrilling, end-to-end final quarter ensued with both teams aiming for the knockout. With eight minutes left, when Rokoduguni fed Joe Cokanasiga in the corner, he finished with precision. Cipriani missed the conversion and it was 24-24.
A penalty by Sheedy looked to have won it for Bristol, but with the clock deep into the red, De Glanville sent the crowd wild.
“I’m so pleased with the spirit [of the team], the effort, and the supporters who came out again in their droves and did such a brilliant job,” Hatley said.
Those fans will not forget this one.
