Wasps take Bath to the cleaners
Semesa Rokoduguni opened the scoring for hosts Bath at the Recreation Ground but Elliot Daly, Jimmy Gopperth and Alapati Leiua all crossed to gain revenge for last week's home defeat to their English rivals.
Gopperth scored 23 points as Wasps opened a healthy six-point lead over their closest pool rivals. It was a first defeat of the campaign for Bath but they could have few complaints.
Bath pinched a last-gasp 25-23 win at Wasps six days earlier and made an ideal start back at the Rec when Rokoduguni crossed in the 10th minute. Wasps' lineout was already under pressure when they lost a throw deep inside their own half.
And Bath capitalised when Kyle Eastmond released Rokoduguni to score past Rob Miller in the corner for his first Champions Cup try, expertly converted by George Ford. But Wasps settled and stunned the home crowd with 23 unanswered points before half-time.
Gopperth landed four kicks that included converting Daly's try after Joe Simpson scooped up a lose pass from Dave Denton to Anthony Watson on half-way. It got worse for Bath when captain Francois Louw limped out of the fray early.
Ford recovered from being knocked over by Nathan Hughes to prevent the Wasps' rampaging No.8 touching down over the line. But the back row forward made a half-break from the resulting scrum and Simpson sent Gopperth charging through three Bath defenders to cross from close range.
The flyhalf added the conversion for a 23-7 half-time lead.
The second-half was a far tighter affair as Ford and Gopperth exchanged penalties before Daly added a drop goal on 70 minutes. However Bath failed to capitalise when momentum swung briefly their way and when Rokoduguni was binned eight minutes from time for deliberately knocking down a pass as Wasps pressed.
Gopperth then inspired the knockout blow. The flyhalf weaved inside Guy Mercer and then past the out-stretched hands of Max Lahif before handing Leiua an easy finish. Bath were held up over the line but Wasps had the win wrapped up, despite fumbling a late chance at a bonus point.
Scorers:
For Bath:
Try: Rokoduguni
Con: Ford
Pen: Ford
For Wasps:
Tries: Daly, Gopperth, Leiua
Cons: Gopperth 3
Pens: Gopperth 4
DG: Daly
Yellow card: Semesa Rokoduguni (Wasps – 71)
Teams:
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 Leroy Houston, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Matt Garvey, 3 David Wilson, 2 Ross Batty, 1 Nick Auterac.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Max Lahiff, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Guy Mercer, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Tom Homer.
Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Frank Halai, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Ben Jacobs, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 George Smith, 6 James Haskell (captain), 5 Bradley Davies, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ashley Johnson, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Edd Shervington, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Phil Swainston, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Sam Jones, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Alapati Leiua.
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Cyril Lafon (France,)Stéphane Boyer (France)
TMO: Eric Gonthier (France)
