Ford kicks Bath to dramatic win
Wasps looked to be heading for the victory until Anthony Watson scored a late try with the home side down to 13 men.
England international Ford nailed the conversion from the touchline to give Bath the four points and move into second place in the pool with a game in hand on leaders, Wasps.
Bath had raced into a first-half lead with tries from Jonathan Joseph and Matt Banahan, but the home side were kept in contention by the boot of outside-half Ruaridh Jackson.
A Rob Miller try 20 minutes from the end put Wasps in front, but they couldn't cling on to their slender advantage.
The victory moves Bath two points behind Wasps at the top of pool five and four points ahead of reigning champions and three-time winners Toulon.
It started with James Haskell going over the Bath line after just five minutes but after going to the TMO the try wasn't given.
Jackson and Ford exchanged penalties early on before Joseph raced in for the game's opening try after scooping up the loose ball following excellent work by Tom Ellis to get the turnover.
Elliot Daly nailed a huge penalty for the home side to claw back three points but it wasn't long before the visitors got their second score on the board.
Banahan spotted some space on the blindside and exchanged passes with scrum half Nikola Matawalu to beat the covering defence and cross the whitewash.
Two more Jackson penalties reduced the deficit to three points at the half-time break before Ford extended Bath's lead with his second penalty of the afternoon.
Jackson responded with two more penalties before they scored a superb team try through Miller thanks to some lovely offloads from Joe Launchbury and Daly. The reliable Jackson missed a couple of penalties to calm the nerves for Wasps but his late replacement Jimmy Gopperth stuck on over five minutes from time to put the home side five points in front.
Lorenzo Cittadini and George Smith both saw yellow for the home side in the final minutes, with Wasps under huge pressure on their own line as the clock went into the red.
The visitors' finally made the advantage count with Watson's try in the corner, with Ford showing nerves of steel in front of new England boss Eddie Jones with his conversion.
The scorers:
For Wasps:
Try: Miller
Pens: Jackson 4, Daly, Gopperth
For Bath:
Tries: Joseph, Banahan, Watson
Cons: Ford 2
Pens: Ford 2
Yellow cards: Lorenzo Cittadini (Wasps, 79 – repeated infringements), George Smith (Wasps, 80 – repeated infringements)
Teams:
Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Ben Jacobs, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 George Smith, 6 James Haskell (captain), 5 Bradley Davies, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Ashley Johnson, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Edd Shervington, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Sam Jones, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Jimmy Gopperth, 23 Alapati Leiua.
Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Niko Matawalu, 8 David Denton, 7 Francois Louw (captain), 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Tom Ellis, 3 David Wilson, 2 Ross Batty, 1 Max Lahiff.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Leroy Houston, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Tom Homer.
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees: Maxime Chalon (France), Jean-Luc Rebollal (France)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
Sources: @ChampionsCup
