If any more proof were needed of Bath’s determination to go one better than losing finalists this season, here it was – writ large. They found themselves trailing by 10 points in the second half but with Guy Pepper shining throughout and with tries from the replacement props Thomas du Toit and Francois van Wyk they clawed their way to victory.
Van Wyk’s score came with just two minutes left on the clock, such was the fine margin of their win, but they chalk up the victory nonetheless to move into second in the table. Harlequins led after the opening few minutes and were not behind until Van Wyk’s try. They had Marcus Smith in the mood too but Bath have made a habit of coming from behind this season and they scored two of their tries when down to 14 men.
“It’s an 80-minute game,” said Bath’s head coach, Johann van Graan. “We spoke in the week about this being a heavyweight boxing fight. It’s important through the season to win big games away from home and that’s three on the bounce from us now. The biggest thing for me was when we were down to 14 twice, we were actually the stronger team.”
Ollie Lawrence was once again magnificent at centre while Ben Spencer’s cool head was invaluable. Then there is Pepper. The 21-year-old flanker simply does not stop. He has excelled since arriving at Bath and though he missed out on Steve Borthwick’s squad last week, his performance at blindside flanker here will not have gone unnoticed by the onlooking England team manager, Richard Hill. The World Cup winner had plenty of other English back-row talent to cast his eye over but there is something about Pepper that suggests his is a bright future indeed, even if his second-half yellow was on the foolish side.
No doubt relishing the duel with Finn Russell – arguably his closest rival for the British & Irish Lions No 10 jersey next summer – Smith began the match with his tail up. He had set up two tries inside the opening quarter – the first a delightfully weighted pass for Alex Dombrandt to crash through the Bath defence in trademark style on his comeback from a hand injury. The second came from a cross-field kick for the Argentinian wing Rodrigo Isgró – the 2023 world sevens player of year – to go over on the right in his debut.
By that point Bath had barely got going. They had lost Alfie Barbeary to a nasty-looking head injury and encountered Harlequins’ new-found defensive resilience when Tom de Glanville looked certain to score next to the right-hand post, only for Tyrone Green to somehow hold him up. They were not helped by a misfiring lineout but when Tom Dunn finally hit his man inside the Quins 22, Bath were soon over with Pepper squeezing the ball down from close range.
Bath encountered further problems when Dunn was sent to the sin-bin and the visitors were living a charmed life with Smith repeatedly looking for Isgró with the cross-field kick. To their credit, however, Bath levelled at 14-14 despite their numerical disadvantage, De Glanville this time wriggling his way over. Isgró’s second, plunging over from close range, gave the hosts a half-time lead they just about deserved.
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Harlequins thought they might extend their lead after a marauding run from Chandler Cunningham-South, just moments after coming off the bench, took them to within a few metres of the Bath line. Redoubt West Country defence kept them out, however, and Harlequins had to make do with a Smith penalty after a moment of desperation from Pepper earned him a yellow card.
Maybe Bath should play with 14 more often because just minutes after Pepper had been sent to the sin-bin the visitors were back to within touching distance, with Du Toit crashing on to a short ball and flopping over. Bath were then awarded a penalty just inside their own half with a few minutes to go and to the corner they went, enabling Van Wyk to bludgeon his way over.
“The key word is frustration, we didn’t take enough points from the pressure we created,” said Harlequins’ head coach, Danny Wilson. “Then in the last 10 minutes we just handed them opportunities and they’re too good a team to do that.”
