Bath move clear of the basement
PREMIERSHIP REPORT: Bath is off the bottom of the table after a stoic and resolute performance saw them down leaders Northampton Saints 22-13 at The Rec.
Saints started in perfect fashion as Rory Hutchinson profited from a James Grayson charge down, kicking forward and crashing over within minutes of the first whistle.
But Bath responded, Will Chudley darting through a hole in the defence before a Rhys Priestland penalty gave them a 10-8 lead at the break.
Aled Brew then saw red for the hosts but Bath went further ahead through Will Stuart, only for Tom Wood to cross for Saints.
It looked as though the visitors held the momentum but Bath’s resilience proved remarkable, with two Saints players sent to the sin-bin before Zach Mercer wrapped up the win with a try ten minutes from time.
The scorers:
For Bath:
Tries: Chudley, Stuart, Mercer
Cons: Priestland 2
Pen: Priestland
For Northampton Saints
Tries: Hutchinson, Wood
Pen: Grayson
Yellow cards: Ben Franks (Northampton Saints, 63), Paul Hill (Northampton Saints, 70)
Teams:
Bath: 15 Freddie Burns, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Max Wright, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Josh Bayliss, 6 Tom Ellis, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano.
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Lewis Boyce, 18 Christian Judge, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Mike Williams, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Jackson Willison, 23 Gabriel Hamer-Webb.
Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank, 14 Tom Collins, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 James Grayson, 9 Henry Taylor, 8 Teimana Harrison (captain), 7 Jamie Gibson, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Alex Moon, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Ehren Painter, 2 Mike Haywood, 1 Ben Franks.
Replacements: 16 James Fish, 17 Toby Trinder, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Api Ratuniyarawa, 20 Alex Coles, 21 James Mitchell, 22 Fraser Strachan, 23 Ahsee Tuala.
Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales & Wayne Falla.
TMO: Trevor Fisher.
