Bath attacked well throughout the opening phases of the match and, after eight minutes, were held up over the Worcester line with Michael Stephenson being penalised for going over the top in his desperation to score. Continuing their dominance, Bath skipper for the day, Michael Claassens, had several opportunities to opt for three points after the visitors were awarded several penalties but true to his attacking instincts, Claassens opted to tap and go each time. However when a third penalty was awarded to Bath, Claassens asked Butch James to secure the first points of the afternoon.
Worcester attacked the Bath twenty-two from the restart but were shocked by the whippet-like Andrew Higgins who intercepted a wayward pass from Joe Carlisle and ran in for Bath's first try, beating Marcel Garvey to the line. Butch James slotted home the conversion to make the score 10-0 to Bath.
Worcester hit back ten minutes later when the defence of an overly confident Bath was exposed by a turn-over. Crichton got away, passed to Gear, who beat James and fed back in to Latham who scored Worcester's first try of the game. Carlisle's conversion made the score 7-10 and sent some shock waves through the Bath camp. Three minutes later Worcester scored again through Loki Crichton as Bath was again caught trying to play too much rugby instead of keeping the game tight, making the game 14-10.
Bath put themselves under further pressure after 34 minutes by conceding a penalty for handling in a ruck. Fortunately Carlisle missed his kick. Another penalty attempt came from Hape, clumsily falling over Rasmussen after he'd fallen on loose ball but fortunately Carlisle missed and so the half-time score was 14-10.
Bath opened the second half with a second try for Andrew Higgins after four minutes. A more patient build up by the visitors than was seen in the first 40 minutes ensured possession was retained and, after some seven phases, the Bath winger was almost able to walk in for the score. A good kick by James took the score to 14-17.
Bath scored their third try after Shontayne Hape broke away from a Bath lineout tap-back, easily beating the Worcester defenders and perfectly timing his pass to Joe Maddock for his try under the posts. Hape did everything but score this try to claim the points for his team, this was a genuine "assist" and a move that should give him confidence for future games. James' conversion made the score 14-24. Bath were caught offside within moments of the restart and new-boy (to team and match), Willy Walker, opened his Worcester account with three easy points.
Bath continued to press for a fourth try bonus point and enjoyed a series of five metre scrums on both sides of the pitch. Their progress was halted when a defender shoved his hand into a ruck to break up the attack and gave Bath another three points to extend their lead to ten points (17-27).
Willy Walker had a great opportunity to cut the arrears to seven points with a twenty-five metre penalty but sent the ball wide and perhaps demonstrated why Glawster were happy for him to be loaned out to Worcester for the rest of the season.
Moments later Worcester looked as though they would score a try to make the final run in really exciting, but they failed to complete their final pass and Scott Bemand ran away with the ball to relieve pressure on the Bath defence. It was great to see Chris Goodman trot on for the final six minutes given his injury despair all season.
With the last play of the match Higgins scored his third try to secure Bath their five points. Butch James finished off with another conversion for 100% kicking to make the final score 17-34. Mind you, had Worcester taken their chances the end result of this game could have been very different: the game was up for grabs almost until the end.
With losses to London Irish and Sale, this was a great afternoon for Bath.
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| Worcester Warriors: 15. Chris Latham 14. Rico Gear 13. Dale Rasmussen 12. Loki Crichton 11. Marcel Garvey 10. Joe Carlisle 9. Ryan Powell 1. Matt Mullan 2. Aleki Lutui 3. Tevita Taumoepeau 4. Greg Rawlinson 5. Will Bowley 6. Tom Wood 7. Pat Sanderson 8. Kai Horstmann Replacements: 16. Darren Morris 17. Chris Fortey 18. Craig Gillies 19. Netani Talei 20. Matt Powell 21. Willie Walker 22. Alex Grove
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| Bath Rugby: 15. Joe Maddock 14. Michael Stephenson 13. Shontayne Hape 12. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu 11. Andrew Higgins 10. Butch James 9. Michael Claassens 1. David Flatman 2. Pieter Dixon 3. Duncan Bell 4. Justin Harrison 5. Stuart Hooper 6. Andy Beattie 7. James Scaysbrook 8. Daniel Browne Replacements: 16. Rob Hawkins 17. Aaron Jarvis 18. Jonny Fa'amatuainu 19. Chris Goodman 20. Scott Bemand 21. Shaun Berne 22. Tom Cheeseman |
Referee: Dean Richards
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