Bath and Edinburgh close in on Champions Cup last 16
FRIDAY WRAP: Former champions Bath took a big step towards the last 16 of the Champions Cup with a bonus point 43-20 win in Castres on Friday.
The English champions scored six tries in this third round of pool games to go top of Pool Two. They have 11 points, one more than Edinburgh, who staged a superb second-half recovery to edge Gloucester 26-24.
French side Toulon, who won the three successive titles from 2013 to 2015, meet four-time champions Munster on Sunday in the other Pool Two match of the round.
Castres made the early running at the Stade Pierre Fabre with hooker Teddy Durand going over after just four minutes.
Bath hit back through Cam Redpath before Nathanael Hulleu restored the French side’s lead.
But two tries in the space of three minutes from Ted Hill and Tom Dunn ensured Bath would go in with a 21-17 lead at the break.
The English side dominated the second half, adding a fourth try and claiming their bonus points when prop Beno Obano muscled over six minutes after the restart.
Wing Will Muir and replacement scrumhalf Tom Carr-Smith added further tries to seal Bath’s victory.
“This is a big competition and every point is crucial so to get a bonus point here, that extra point is huge,” Bath No.8 Alfie Barbeary told Premier Sports after the match. “If you look at the group there is some fierce competition there.”
On an icy night at the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh, the home side were all over the place in the first half as tries from wing Josh Hathaway and flyhalf Charlie Atkinson took Gloucester into an 18-5 half-time lead.
Edinburgh roared back in the second half with tries from Ewan Ashman and Liam McConnell adding to the first half effort from Ben Vellacott. They went ahead after 67 minutes when Gloucester gave away a penalty try that secured Edinburgh’s bonus point.
With time running out, Gloucester chose to kick a late penalty to ensure that they too went away with a bonus point and a chance of qualifying for the last 16.
See below for Friday’s scores and scorers!
Castres 20-43 Bath
The scorers:
For Castres:
Tries: Durand, Hulleu
Cons: Fernandez 2
Pens: Fernandez 2
For Bath:
Tries: Redpath, Hill, Dunn, Obano, Muir, Carr-Smith
Cons: Russell 5
Pen: Russell
Teams:
Castres Olympique: 15 Theo Chabouni, 14 Christian Ambadiang, 13 Vuate Karawalevu, 12 Jack Goodhue, 11 Nathanael Hulleu, 10 Pierre Popelin, 9 Jeremy Fernandez, 8 Tyler Ardron, 7 Baptiste Cope, 6 Baptiste Delaporte (captain), 5 Florent Vanverberghe, 4 Guillaume Ducat, 3 Will Collier, 2 Teddy Durand-Pradere, 1 Quentin Walcker.
Replacements: 16 Loris Zarantonello, 17 Atunaisa Sokobale, 18 Nicolas Corato, 19 Tom Staniforth, 20 Simon Meka, 21 Gauthier Doubrere, 22 Enzo Herve, 23 Geoffrey Palis.
Bath: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Henry Arundell, 13 Max Ojomoh, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (captain), 8 Alfie Barbeary, 7 Miles Reid, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Ross Molony, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Billy Sela, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano.
Replacements: 16 Kepu Tuipulotu, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Josh Bayliss, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Will Butt, 23 Joe Cokanasiga.
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Cole (Ireland), Daniel Carson (Ireland)
TMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)
Edinburgh 26-24 Gloucester
The scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Vellacott, Ashman, McConnell, Penalty Try
Cons: Thompson 2
For Gloucester:
Tries: Hathaway, Atkinson
Con: Barton
Pens: Barton 4
Teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Magnus Bradbury (captain), 7 Freddy Douglas, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Glen Young, 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 3 Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 2 Harri Morris, 1 James Whitcombe.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Euan McVie, 20 Tom Dodd, 21 Ben Muncaster, 22 Charlie Shiel, 23 Piers O’Conor.
Gloucester: 15 George Barton, 14 Jack Cotgreave, 13 Will Butler, 12 Seb Atkinson (captain), 11 Josh Hathaway, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Mike Austin, 8 Jack Clement, 7 Lewis Ludlow, 6 Deian Gwynne, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Freddie Thomas, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Will Crane, 1 Val Rapava Ruskin.
Replacements: 16 George Knowles, 17 Ciaran Knight, 18 Afolabi Fasogbon, 19 Cam Jordan, 20 James Venter, 21 Rhys Price, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Jake Morris.
Referee: Luc Ramos (France)
Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas (France), Jonathan Gasnier (France)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
