Coetzee fires Bath to victory over Cardiff
MATCH REPORT: A late brace from replacement Jaco Coetzee secured a 39-32 win for Bath over Cardiff in a ten-try thriller at the Arms Park.
Coetzee struck twice in the space of five minutes to up-end Cardiff’s lead and hand victory to a determined visiting side, who had to dig deep and find a way to get past a hard-working home side.
There were seven tries in an enthralling first-half, with Cardiff scoring three courtesy of a brace from wing Josh Adams and another from his replacement Gabe Hamer-Webb.
Bath scored four, with wing Joe Cokanasiga, centre Ollie Lawrence, No.8 Alfie Barbeary and hooker Tom Dunn securing a bonus point in the first-half.
But flyhalf Finn Russell only managed two conversions while his opposite number Tinus de Beer kicked two penalties and two conversions to send the home side in 25-24 up at the break.
The second half picked up where the first half left off, centre Ben Thomas scoring Cardiff’s fourth try with De Beer converting again.
From what had been a free-scoring affair, the game now became a tense and gritty battle with a Russell penalty the sole score until the 65th minute when Coetzee scored the first of his late double.
Russell missed the conversion to leave the teams tied at 32-32 apiece, but the Scotsman kicked the extras after Coetzee reached for the line to dot down his second five minutes later to clinch victory away from home.
Cardiff will host Harlequins and Racing 92 in January, while Bath will face the French side at home before a trip to Stade Toulousain.
The scorers:
For Cardiff:
Tries: Adams 2, Hamer-Webb, Thomas
Cons: De Beer 3
Pens: De Beer 2
For Bath:
Tries: Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Barbeary, Dunn, Coetzee 2
Cons: Russell 3
Pens: Russell
Teams
Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Mason Grady, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Mackenzie Martin, 7 Lucas de la Rua, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Rory Thornton, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Liam Belcher (captain), 1 Corey Domachowski.
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Alun Lawrence, 21 Ellis Bevan, 22 Willis Halaholo, 23 Gabriel Hamer-Webb.
Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 7 Chris Cloete, 6 Miles Reid, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano.
Replacements: 16 Hame Faiva, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Quinn Roux, 20 Elliott Stooke, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Jaco Coetzee.
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland
Assistant referees: Ru Campbell (Scotland), Rob McDowell (Scotland)
TMO: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Source: @ChampionsCup
