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Bath Lose At Quins
By Glen Leat
November 30 2008
Bath suffered their first Guinness Premiership away loss of the season, after they were beaten 21-14 by Harlequins at The Stoop, and this saw them slip to third in the table behind London Irish and Glawster. This will be very disappointing for the coach and his squad as we enter a couple of weeks of Heineken Cup action.

Bath got off to a positive start with an early Butch James penalty after just two minutes when the South African fly-half converted from close to halfway. Nick Evans evened things up three minutes later. James was able to regain the lead moments later after Michael Claassens spotted a gap which gave Peter Short an opportunity to charge forward and set up another penalty.

Despite enjoying the majority of early possession, Bath put themselves under pressure after 10 minutes when an intercepted pass set up Quins for a great attacking possibility and it took a super try saving tackle from Nick Abendanon which ensured that all the home side got was a score drawing penalty. 

Quins looked as though they would take the lead after 18 minutes, when Bath were penalised in front of their posts for not rolling away from a ruck, but somewhat surprisingly Nick Evans missed.

Butch James kicked three from three just before half an hour when he slotted home a further penalty to give Bath the lead once a again. Eight minutes later Nick Evans restored parity after Jonny Fa'amatuainu was penalised for tackling with his shoulder. 

Half time arrived with the score at 9-9.

Play was fairly even in terms of possession and territory for the opening ten minutes of the second half. Two key moments for Bath saw Stuart Hooper charge down the centre to gain 30 metres and moments later Banahan was ankle tapped as he ran towards the try line. These excellent attacking opportunities set up the first try of the game, for Bath, by Jonny Fa'amatuainu. Unfortunately the conversion was missed to make the score 9-14.

Almost immediately Harlequins put Bath under pressure and were close to crossing the try line on two occasions within two minutes. The second attempt followed a quick penalty by Gomarsall but after there was no advantage to the home side, referee Fox took play back for a kickable penalty to Evans: however he missed.

Harlequins then took control of the game and Bath's defence was caught out after Nick Evans set up Jordan Turner-Hall with a great miss-pass and the home centre scored to make the score 14-14 with 15 minutes left. Quins then took the lead with another try, this time from Ceri Jones, after a deft feed from Gomarsall. Evans converted to make the score 21-14.

With just over a minute left Bath were awarded a penalty and James opted for a scrum rather than a shot at goal or kick to touch. Another penalty was given to Bath following Browne's break from the scrum and they got within five metres of the Quins line but were eventually turned over to allow Quin's to clear and close out the game.

 

Harlequins

21 - 14
(9 - 9)

Bath
Tries:
Turner-Hall, C Jones
 Tries:
Browne
Penalties:
Evans 3
 Penalties:
James 3
Conversions:
Evans
 

 

Harlequins: 15. Mike Brown   14. Seb Stegmann   13. de Wet Barry   12. Jordan Turner-Hall   11. Tom Williams   10. Nick Evans   9. Andy Gomarsall   1. Ceri Jones   2. Tani Fuga   3. Mike Ross   4. James Percival   5. Jim Evans   6. Chris Robshaw   7. Will Skinner   8. Tom Guest  
Replacements: 16. Chris Brooker   17. Mark Lambert   18. George Robson   19. Neil McMillan   20. Junior Poluleuligaga   21. Tosh Masson   22. Chris Malone 

 

Bath Rugby: 15. Nick Abendanon   14. Michael Stephenson   13. Tom Cheeseman   12. Shontayne Hape   11. Matt Banahan   10. Butch James   9. Michael Claassens   1. David Flatman   2. Pieter Dixon   3. Duncan Bell   4. Justin Harrison   5. Peter Short   6. Stuart Hooper   7. Jonny Fa'amatuainu   8. Daniel Browne  
Replacements: 16. Rob Hawkins   17. Paulica Ion   18. Andy Beattie   19. James Scaysbrook   20. Scott Bemand   21. Eliot Fuimaono-Sapolu   22. Shaun Berne  

Referee: Martin Fox

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