Bath reach second place
Comments
0
A wonder try from prop Henry Thomas helped lift Bath to second place in the Premiership table as they condemned London Irish to a fourth consecutive league defeat 33-23.
England international Thomas burst through the defence and held off a number of would-be tacklers early in the second half for a memorable score at the Madejski Stadium.
The platform for victory was established at the scrum as Bath dominated throughout and they were in fact awarded a firsthalf penalty try when Irish were penalised at scrum-time.
David Paice and James Short went over for Irish in the second period but scrumhalf Chris Cook's score meant that the visitors were always largely in control.
Bath welcomed the likes of Kyle Eastmond and Semesa Rokoduguni back from England duty and into their starting XV.
But it was the hosts who made a fast start as stand-in captain Shane Geraghty, who took the armband from the injured George Skivington, kicked an early penalty.
Meanwhile, Jack Nowell scored a firsthalf double to claim his Premiership tries in over a year and send Exeter Chiefs top of the table with a resolute 31-15 victory over Wasps at Sandy Park.
Despite an eagerly anticipated battle between the respective back rows, it was the backlines who lit up a restless first period with Nowell scoring either side of Rob Miller's reply for the visitors.
Thomas Waldrom then maintained his stunning scoring form to claim his seventh try of the campaign, with Gareth Steenson proving nerveless from the tee as the hosts led 25-8 at the break.
An attritional second period then saw Wasps fail to capitalise on Chiefs prop Tomas Francis being sent to the bin, despite replacement Tom Lindsay touching down, as Steenson added two further penalties.
All the scores and scorers
Bath 33-22 London Irish
Scorers:
For London Irish:
Tries: Paice, Short
Cons: Geraghty 2
Pens: Geraghty 3
For Bath:
Tries: Penalty try, Thomas, Cook
Cons: Henson 3
Pens: Henson 4
Teams:
London Irish: 15 Andrew Fenby, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Scott Steele, 8 Tom Guest, 7 Conor Gilsenan, 6 Luke Narraway, 5 Sean Cox, 4 George Skivington, 3 Halani Aulika, 2 David Paice, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Jimmy Stevens, 17 Matt Parr, 18 Leo Halavatau, 19 Dave Lyons, 20 Ollie Curry, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Eoin Griffin, 23 James Short.
Bath: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Gavin Henson, 9 Micky Young, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 David Sisi, 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Stuart Hooper, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ross Batty, 1 Nathan Catt.
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Kane Palma-Newport, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Ollie Devoto, 23 Olly Woodburn.
Referee: Andrew Small
Assistant referees: Peter Huckle, Roy Maybank
TMO: Keith Lewis
Exeter 31-15 Wasps
Scorers:
For Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Nowell 2, Waldrom
Cons: Steenson 2
Pens: Steenson 4
For Wasps:
Tries: Miller, Lindsay
Con: Lozowski
Pen: Goode
Teams:
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Don Armand, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Dean Mumm (captain), 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Carl Rimmer.
Replacements: 16 Greg Bateman, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Moray Low, 19 Ryan Caldwell, 20 Kai Horstmann, 21 Haydn Thomas, 22 Ian Whitten, 23 Byron McGuigan.
Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Chris Bell (captain), 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Sam Jones, 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 James Gaskell, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Edd Shervington, 1 Simon McIntyre.
Replacements: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 John Yapp, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Guy Thompson, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Tom Varndell.
Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant referees: Paul Burton, Thomas Foley
TMO: Rowan Kitt
ADVERTISEMENT
