Van Graan's Bath overpower Everitt's Edinburgh to reach Challenge Cup Final
MATCH REPORT: Bath outscored Edinburgh by six tries to three at Edinburgh Stadium on Saturday, to book their place in the Challenge Cup Final.
The scoreline may flatter Bath as Edinburgh stayed in the fight throughout the match, but Bath capitalised better of the two sides when afforded the opportunity.
Bath applied the pressure early with their ball-in-hand approach, but Harry Patterson intercepted the ball five metres from Edinburgh’s line as Bath looked set to score and worked his side into Bath’s half.
Ali Price squandered a scoring opportunity by kicking a loose ball too deep with no one ahead of him but the try line in the opening five minutes.
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The first penalty of the match went the way of the hosts. Flyhalf Ross Thompson hit the posts from right in front.
Jamie Ritchie dropped a high ball cold which gifted Bath an attacking scrum. The visitors earned the penalty and opted for the line-out inside Edinburgh’s 22-metre area.
Bath had a free play with a penalty advantage but it wasn’t required as flanker Sam Underhill ran a strong line to take a crash ball from Ben Spencer and dived over for the opening try.
Finn Russell converted the score in the 10th minute.
Finn Russell who controlled matters well for most of the match had his pass intercepted by Matt Currie before Will Muir kicked the ball back to Bath’s side from a ruck.
Unfortunately for the wing, it was deemed to be cynical play as he came from an offside position after a line break and Muir was sent to the sin-bin in the 13th minute.
An opportunistic piece of play by Edinburgh saw a quick line-out throw-in taken by Matt Currie which led to Mosese Tuipulotu opening Edinburgh’s account in the 19th minute. Ross Thompson added the conversion.
Bath looked to strike back but a desperate cover tackle saved the day for the hosts.
Edinburgh’s defensive line-out that followed was sloppy and taken back onto their in-goal area, effectively gifting Bath an attacking scrum.
The visitors bashed away at Edinburgh’s line after Reid broke away from the back of the scrum but the hosts’ defensive work paid dividends as Bath ended up knocking the ball on when they opted to go wide on attack.
Bath, however, had another attacking opportunity thanks to Sam Underhill’s breakdown work when Edinburgh tried to play from deep.
The visitors set the rolling maul and scored their second try in the 31st minute courtesy of hooker Tom Dunn. Russell missed the conversion.
A penalty to Edinburgh for not rolling away gave the hosts an attacking line-out maul.
Another penalty went the way of the hosts on attack for offside play before a scuffle broke out between the two sides.
Edinburgh opted for the shot at goal which Thompson slotted in the 38th minute to close the gap to two points. That proved to be the final scoring in the first half.
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The second half started with drama three minutes into the match.
Glasgow attacked out wide before Wes Goosen’s pass was deliberately knocked on by his opposite number Tom de Glanville as the Bath fullback was yellow-carded and the hosts earned a penalty try.
Bath didn’t lie down as they earned a penalty for obstruction after the restart. The visitors attacked and earned another penalty for offside.
The visitors took the quick tap penalty and earned another penalty that saw the inevitable double blast by the referee who warned the hosts to clean up their behaviour.
Bath took the quick tap penalty again and bashed away at Edinburgh’s line for multiple phases until the dam wall broke when Ben Obano crashed over and touched down.
The drama didn’t stop there. Following a lengthy TMO consultation the try was chalked off as the ball had been viewed to be held up over the line by Ali Price.
Moments later Edinburgh conceded another red zone penalty and Sam Skinner was given a yellow card in the 48th minute.
Bath went to the line and formed a powerful rolling maul which went down centimetres from Edinburgh’s line before Hamish Watson went in over the ball and won a crucial breakdown penalty to save the day.
The visitors had multiple scoring opportunities but Edinburgh managed to keep them at bay for the majority of the time. Eventually, Tom Dunn got the ball down for a brace off a rolling maul in the 53rd minute to draw the scores level.
Finn Russell added the extras to reclaim the lead for his side.
The momentum shifted immediately to Bath following Dunn’s second score. Edinburgh conceded another penalty inside their half as Bath went for the five-metre line-out.
Bath kept things tight with the forwards and replacement Alfie Barbeary dotted the ball down to extend the lead in the 60th minute which Russell failed to convert.
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Another penalty to Bath saw Russell make it a 10-point match with 16 minutes remaining in the match.
Edinburgh refused to lie down when their halfback combination made some magic. Ross Thompson made a line break and got his pass away to Ali Price who dotted down in the 65th minute. Thompson added the extras.
Play went back and forth between the two sides, but Finn Russell showed his class with clever kicks in behind the Edinburgh backfield defence.
The hosts outside backs found themselves isolated and conceded a penalty for holding on. Bath opted for the corner in the 73rd minute.
Edinburgh sacked the maul successfully from the outset as Bath kept matters tight with their forwards as they did throughout the match before Edinburgh conceded a penalty for offside.
Bath took a quick tap penalty and it paid off when replacement hooker Niall Annett dotted down next to the posts which Russel converted to make it a 10-point match with less than four minutes of playing time left.
The visitors put the cherry on the cake when Tom de Glanville scooped up a loose ball and got it wide as Guy Pepper sealed the deal with a minute to go.
Paddy Harrison thought he had scored off the restart but there was a knock on before the play.
Bath had one final scrum inside their half as the clock ticked into the red and the visitors earned a penalty which Russell tapped and kicked out to end proceedings.
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Scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Tuipulotu, Price, Penalty try does not require a conversion
Cons: Thompson 2
Pens: Thompson
For Bath:
Tries: Underhill, Dunn 2, Barbeary, Annett, Pepper
Cons: Russell 3
Pens: Russell
Yellow cards: Will Muir (Bath: Cynical play – kicking the ball out of the breakdown after a line break 13′), Tom de Glanville (Bath: Cynical play – deliberate knock on with a line break opportunity), Sam Skinner (Edinburgh: Team warning – repeated infringements 48′)
Teams
Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Harry Paterson, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Sam Skinner, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Paddy Harrison, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Glen Young, 20 Ben Muncaster, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Mosese Tuipulotu.
Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Cameron Redpath, 12 Will Butt, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (captain), 8 Miles Reid, 7 Sam Underhill, , 6 Guy Pepper, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano.
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Ted Hill, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Ciaran Donoghue, 23 Alfie Barbeary.
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia
Assistant referee: Ludovic Cayre (France), Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
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