Bath battle past Warriors
PREMIERSHIP REPORT: Bath survived a late scare to secure a slender 22-21 victory over Worcester Warriors at Sixways Stadium, as Duncan Weir missed a conversion to win it for the hosts.
The visitors took the upper hand within two minutes in this one, as Zach Mercer was the beneficiary of a fumbled kick off by the hosts, as the returning flank bundled over from close range.
Weir and Rhys Priestland exchanged penalties to make it 10-3 after just ten minutes, with Weir missing another kick at goal in the meantime.
The action-packed start to the game continued as Cornell Du Preez crossed to level the scores, with the South African capitalising on some quick thinking from Francois Hougaard to spot a gap in the Bath defence.
Weir added what proved to be the last points of the first half 22 minutes in with another penalty, as the Warriors went in 13-10 to the good at the interval.
The lead swapped hands again just five minutes into the second period, as skipper Francois Louw went over, before Josh McNally added another to extend Bath’s lead to nine points at the hour mark.
Weir then kicked a three-pointer from halfway to reduce the arrears, before falling foul of the treacherous conditions and missing another kick with fifteen minutes to play.
Debutant Nick David then went over for another Warriors try, but Weir’s day with the boot got no better as he missed the tough conversion from the wing.
Chris Pennell tried his luck with an audacious kick attempt from his own half in the dying seconds, but it wasn’t to be as Bath claimed victory to see them rise into the top four.
The scorers:
For Worcester Warriors:
Tries: Du Preez, David
Con: Weir
Pens: Weir 3
For Bath:
Tries: Mercer, Louw, McNally
Cons: Priestland 2
Pen: Priestland
Yellow card: Graham Kitchener (Worcester Warriors, 42)
Teams:
Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Scott van Breda, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Nick David, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Cornell du Preez, 7 Marco Mama, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Anton Brelser, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Matt Moulds (captain), 1 Ethan Waller
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 Andrew Kitchener, 20 Sam Lewis, 21 Michael Heaney, 22 Jono Lance, 23 Ryan Mills
Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Ruaridh McConnochie, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Francois Louw (captain), 6 Tom Ellis, 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Christian Judge, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Lewis Boyce, 18 Sam Nixon, 19 Mike Williams, 20 Taulupe Faletau, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Max Wright
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant Referees: Paul Dix & Wayne Falla.
TMO: David Rose.
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