Van Graan's Bath move one step closer to historic treble

MATCH REPORT: Bath are the Challenge Cup victors after defeating Lyon (LOU) 37-12 in the Final in Cardiff on Friday.

Flyhalf Finn Russell scored 17 points with the boot to help Johann van Graan’s side to victory.

With fireworks as the backdrop, the two sides entered the field, and Lyon’s start matched the heat. Pinning Bath to their own 22, the French side went at the English side from the get-go, with their pace soon rewarded.

Ethan Dumortier cleverly found space down the right to cross with barely two minutes on the clock. The forensic TMO that followed failed to soften the blow to Bath.

Kicked into action by the score and the deafening Blue and White army, Bath upped the tempo. Fuelled by the renowned Finn Russell-Ben Spencer half-back pairing, some defence-splitting runs and driving mauls had LOU camped just in front of the in-goal.

It was pressure that soon came good for Bath as prop Tom Dunn eventually drove one home for his fourth in three games.

It wasn’t long before Max Ojomoh added another for the English side as he twisted free on the left to create space to tap down.

LOU would’ve felt hard done by when Sam Underhill saw yellow instead of red in the final third of the half, but another sin-binned Bath player threatened to destabilise their lead as LOU looked to make the most of the two-man advantage.

And that’s precisely what they thought they’d done when Dumortier charged under the posts, only to be ruled out soon after.

A fast Finn Russell penalty after the break extended the English lead, but it was the perfect response from Lyon.

Arno Botha charged home for the French side’s second on 43 minutes, reducing an otherwise worrying deficit.

But it was a deficit soon to be added to, as Ben Obano bulldozed his way over on 50 minutes.

It was then Bath’s other Ben that sealed the deal when captain Spencer burst through the Lyon backline to finish off an impressive move under the posts – the cherry on top of an all-round stellar performance from the skipper.

A comfortable final 20 minutes ensued for the English side as their four tries had seen them into a commanding lead.

Bath crowned themselves EPCR Challenge Cup champions for the second time, in turn denying LOU a repeat of 2022.

*To recap all the action, CLICK HERE!

Man of the Match: Bath captain Ben Spencer for leading his team to victory and scoring a try en route to the trophy

Scorers:

For Bath:
Tries: Dunn, Ojomoh, Obano, Spencer
Cons: Russell 4
Pens: Russell 3

For Lyon:
Tries: Dumortier, Botha
Cons: Berdeu

Yellow cards: Sam Underhill (for Bath, for high tackle, 28’), Muir (for Bath, taking man out of the air, 34’)

Teams

Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Max Ojomoh, 12 Will Butt, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (captain), 8 Miles Reid, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Ciaran Donoghue, 23 Alfie Barbeary

Lyon: 15 Davit Niniashvili, 14 Vincent Rattez, 13 Josiah Maraku, 12 Theo Millet, 11 Ethan Dumortier, 10 Léo Berdeu, 9 Baptiste Couilloud, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Beka Saginadze, 6 Dylan Cretin, 5 Mickael Guillard, 4 Theo William, 3 Jermaine Ainsley, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Jérôme Rey
Replacements: 16 Guillaume Marchand, 17 Hamza Kaabeche, 18 Irakli Aptsiauri, 19 Félix Lambey, 20 Liam Allen, 21 Maxime Gouzou, 22 Martin Page-Relo, 23 Martin Meliande

Referee: Hollie Davidson
Assistant Referees: Gianluca Gnecchi, Eoghan Cross
TMO: Mike Adamson

Additional source @ChallengeCup