Bath came from behind at Kingsholm for the second time in a row
Sophie Hurcom
BBC Sport England at Kingsholm Stadium
Gallagher Premiership
Gloucester (24) 31
Tries: Llewellyn, Williams, Charlie Atkinson, Thorley Cons: Carreras 3, Barton Pens: Carreras,
Bath (17) 55
Tries: Obano 2, Russell, penalty, Bayliss, De Glanville, Lawrence, Coetzee Cons: Russell 5 Pens: Russell
Bath put eight tries on the board as they bounced back from defeat against Bristol to extend their winning run over Gloucester in a high-scoring match at Kingsholm.
Gloucester led at the break by seven points through tries from Max Llewellyn, Tomos Williams and Charlie Atkinson, to one apiece from Beno Obano and Finn Russell.
But Bath came out firing after half-time, as Obano scored a second before Josh Bayliss’ try and a penalty try flipped the game on its head.
They added three more to just one from the Cherry and Whites and eventually surpassed 50 points to take a maximum five points and move up to third in the Premiership table.
Bath looked out of sorts against neighbours Bristol in their previous match and, with six changes to their 15, they started like a team determined not to make the same mistake.
Within five minutes they were on the board as Obano powered over on their third time of asking.
Gloucester drew level with their first bit of real possession through the backs when Josh Hathaway darted down the wing and looked to be smothered in sight of the line, but managed to offload to Llewellyn to run over.
There were early signs of what was to come, however, as the Cherry and Whites began racking up penalties and conceded another to hand Russell an easy kick at goal in front of the posts to nudge Bath back in front.
But Gloucester’s new attacking style has produced some spectacular tries this season and they added two more to stun Bath and open daylight between them.
Seb Atkinson stripped the ball inside their own half and found support in Welsh scrum-half Williams, who ran over for his third try in two games.
Mercer then time found a gap in Bath’s line, skipped through tackles and Williams again ran a supportive line, before passing to Charlie Atkinson to make it 21-10.
Again the hosts instantly let Bath back in, though, as Russell rolled over to pull one back and Gloucester saw a crucial try painfully chalked off right before the break through the TMO, after Hathaway jumped on Austin Emens when chasing down a loose ball.
Image source, PA Media
Fly-half Finn Russell scored his first try for Bath and kicked 13 points
When the two sides met in this fixture last season Bath trailed at half-time by 10 points – and it was a case of deja vu almost 12 months on.
Gloucester were caught offside, gifting Bath a kick to the corner, from which Obano touched down for his second.
Bath’s pressure did not relent and they came straight back at Gloucester, whose line-out stuttered, and while they were held up over the line, they were awarded a penalty try and Charlie Atkinson was shown yellow for being offside while making the tackle.
With 14 men the gaps opened wider and Bayliss ran in Bath’s fifth as they had the numbers out wide to complete the turnaround.
A fourth try in the space of 19 minutes followed to make it 41-24 when Tom De Glanville scooped up a loose ball with Gloucester in attack, and sprinted from deep in his own half to quiet Kingsholm.
Ollie Thorley broke through a tackle to narrow the gap to 10 points and give Gloucester hope they could salvage something.
But Ollie Lawrence made sure of Bath’s win, darting between two players and over, before Jaco Coetzee touched down from close range to seal another impressive Kingsholm comeback.
Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:
“First half I thought we were in a good spot, defensively I thought the boys were good, scored some good tries, made some good line breaks.
“But I think in the second half, our attack scored four tries in the game but I think it gave four tries in the game. We are pushing our luck the way we’re playing – when it’s good, it’s good.
“We’ve learned a valuable lesson there that we’ve got to respect the breakdown, when you offload, when you pass, because Bath scored at least four tries off us making a wrong decision in attack and being reckless rather than organised.
“We know that’s the risk of playing the way we’re playing, but I think we can be better on all sides of all that.”
Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan told BBC Radio Bristol:
“We finished our opportunities today. We had a similar amount this week as last week and we finished them. To come and score 55 points away at Kingsholm takes some doing.
“We’ll always stay in the fight and we did so for 80 minutes and I love the attitude of the team down to 14 men at the end and we still went to go and score a try. We played to win today.
“All around pressure game, that’s one of our sayings – scrum was good, line-out was good, I thought line-out contesting was really good, defensively we dominated collisions and scored eight tries.”
Johann van Graan speaks after Bath Rugby came back to win at Gloucester. Image: Getty
Gloucester: Carreras; Hathaway, Llewellyn Atkinson, Thorley; Anscombe, Williams; Knight, Singleton, Fasogbon, Clarke, Thomas, Clement, Ludlow (c), Mercer.
Replacements: Blake, Rapava-Ruskin, Gotovtsev, Alemanno, Ackermann, Englefield, Atkinson, Barton.
Sin bin: Charlie Atkinson (47)
Bath: De Glanville; Butt, Lawrence, Redpath, Emens; Russell, Spencer (c); Obano, Dunn, Du Toit, Hill, Molony, Bayliss, Reid, Barbeary.
Replacements: Annett, Van Wyk, Stuart, Ewels, Underhill, Schreuder, Bailey, Coetzee.
Sin bin: Redpath (74)
Referee: Adam Leal
