Bath started so well, with a chip from Davis which allowed his forward pack to rip through the Wasps defence and surge towards the line. A try wasn’t given, but Bath continued to attack and as the ball went swiftly through their hands, Michael Claassens took advantage of a gap in the Wasps defence and nipped over the line for a try. Davis kicked the conversion to give Bath a 7-0 lead within a few minutes.

The momentum swung Wasps’ way when Bath were penalised twice in quick succession and the London side took shots at goal. Both drifted wide. Despite these errors, Wasps soon began to show their class and Bath fell into their frustrating pattern of giving away penalties. Certainly Chris White was very whistle happy today, but Bath gave him every opportunity with silly errors worthy of being penalised. This was seen in the lead up to Wasps first try; Bath were penalised and Wasps given space, and Tom Varndell flew up the wing after Bath missed essential tackles. The conversion was missed.

Some Bath players showed attacking intent- Matt Carraro continued to impress but as with Matt Banahan a few years ago, his breaks were so quick he had little support when brought down. Wasps were penalised and Davis increased Bath’s lead by three. Just as Bath seemed to be getting into the swing of things, a senseless turnover meant Varndell and scrum-half Joe Simpson could race up the opposite wing to the previous try and score to bring the scores level. One pass looked a touch forward, but it was a cracking display of smart and quick rugby. The conversion was missed.

Bath dived into things now, with lots of sweet passes, but they were never really going anywhere. They were pinged for holding on. Once Wasps had moved the ball around a bit, they kicked high, and saw a beautiful take from Joe Maddock, setting up an attacking platform for Bath. But the home team’s inability to turn attack into points was shown up as Wasps suddenly shrugged off Bath’s attacking intent and David Lemi ran up the wing and scored a try. Maddock missed a key tackle which would have taken the former Bristol speedster into touch. The kiwi back seemed out of sorts today.

There was lots of kicking at the start of the second half, with Bath and Wasps continuing to exchange the ball. Banahan made a few powerful breaks, and there was a great chip over the Wasps defence from Davis to almost set up a try for Tom Cheeseman but the ball went too far.

It seemed that Bath were denied what should have been a penalty try when they were camped five metres away from the Wasps try line and the referee had to reset the scrum several times after Wasps infringements. But despite losing Tim Payne to the sin-bin for transgressing in the front row, Wasps’ luck held as Chris White didn’t award the penalty try and Wasps finally snaffled the ball.

Some more great running from Carraro set up some attacks from Bath, but the numerous penalties they gave away gave Wasps the momentum. Bath almost scored after some great work from Jack Cuthbert (on at fullback) led to a charge towards the try line, but an outrageous shoulder charge on Cuthbert stopped him in his tracks. The 20 metres gained after this penalty looked promising, but Ryan Davis knocked the ball on.

With just a few minutes remaining, and with no points scored so far in the second half, Bath made one last desperate attack in the hope of achieving a draw with a try and conversion. They achieved the try- finally- when the majority of the Bath and Wasps teams tumbled over in the corner, with Chris White the referee caught up in it for good measure. Once he had righted himself, he awarded the try to Ben Skirving. It was a tight angle for the conversion, and Ryan Davis was unable to add the extras which would have made the result a draw and two points for Bath. As it was, a losing bonus point was Bath’s only reward.

It was a disappointing display from Bath, especially on a gloriously sunny day at the Rec with a crowd willing them on. Wasps seemed smarter, and some play from the home team’s backs was far too loose with too many errors. It was the penalty count which surely lost Bath the game and it is this on which they need to work if they want to improve quickly. There were some good points- Carraro, Banahan, Salvi and Claassens had good games, but the errors that had much of the crowd groaning in frustration need to be looked at, and sharpish.

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