Van Graan's Bath miss chance to go top

SUNDAY WRAP: Reigning champions Bath missed the opportunity to go to the top of the PREM table as Exeter took a huge step towards an end of season play-off spot with a bonus-point victory at Sandy Park.

Exeter looked likely losers at halftime but a disjointed Bath had no answers to a determined effort from the spirited Chiefs in the second half, who were helped by a red card for Quinn Roux and a yellow one for Tom de Glanville on the way to a 35-12 success.

Dan Frost and Sam Underhill scored Bath’s tries with Finn Russell converting one.

Exeter, playing with the advantage of a stiff breeze, took a third-minute lead with a penalty from Slade.

Bath conceded three penalties in the first 12 minutes and Slade made them pay with a second successful kick and on the restart, they immediately conceded another when Roux high tackled Slade which resulted in the visitors’ dazed lock being red carded.

Slade departed for an HIA before Ted Hill infringed for the second time in the opening quarter and Bath were made to pay from the resulting line-out.

Australian international centre Ikitau burst away to put the defence on the back foot before Iosefa-Scott was on hand to crash over, with Skinner’s conversion giving Chiefs a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Bath did not strike a blow during that period but five minutes later their pack produced an unstoppable line-out drive which resulted in Frost touching down.

Slade returned, having passed his HIA, with Charlie Ewels introduced at the end of the 20-minute suspension for Roux but the second quarter saw the hosts unable to capitalise on the elements in their favour so a 13-5 half-time lead did not appear at that stage to be sufficient.

However four minutes after the restart, Bath full-back Tom de Glanville was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on and it proved costly as slick passing from Chiefs ended with Brown-Bampoe outflanking the cover to score.

Bath introduced four from the bench including Cam Redpath for his 100th appearance for the club and in time to see Ridl sin-binned for a high tackle on Russell.

Almost immediately Bath capitalised when Underhill broke away from a driving maul to score, before Slade missed a 35-metre shot at goal.

Ridl returned and immediately saw Ikitau dart over from close-range for his first top-flight try, before he atoned for his earlier indiscretion by racing away for the bonus-point try.

Slade converted and added a last-minute penalty to complete a miserable afternoon for Bath.

Meanwhile, Jamie Benson scored a hat-trick as Harlequins ran in 12 tries to thrash Newcastle 76-17.

A basement battle between the two bottom teams at Kingston Park started with Alex Dombrandt, Benson and Bryn Bradley all scoring in the opening 15 minutes for the visitors before Adam Brocklebank replied.

The damage was ultimately done in the first half where a ruthless display saw Cadan Murley, Sam Riley, Marcus Smith and Will Hobson all cross along with a Josh Hodge effort for Newcastle as Harlequins took a mammoth 45-10 lead at the break.

Luke Northmore grounded early in the second half before Benson scored twice in quick succession to complete his hat-trick and tries from Bradley and Jimmy Staples secured Quins’ fourth Prem win this season.

Harlequins went ahead three minutes into the contest when skipper Dombrandt reached over the line to touch down, with Smith adding the extras.

Newcastle were handed a blow when Ben Healy was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and the visitors soon capitalised on their player advantage with their second try of the match.

Riley picked the ball up and burst forward before offloading into Benson on the left flank to cross, but Smith’s conversion flew wide.

Just two minutes later Cameron Anderson broke through to play in Bradley for the centre to race over the line and ground, with Smith’s kick successful.

Newcastle pulled one back when prop Brocklebank powered over from close-range, but Brett Connon could not convert.

However, Quins soon found further success on the left wing when Murley eased through to ground. Smith missed his conversion attempt.

Riley then struck from a quickly taken penalty, easily stepping through to cross, with Smith adding the extras.

The England fly-half soon bagged a try of his own after latching onto Dombrandt’s offload and racing underneath the posts before converting his own attempt.

Harlequins’ rampant first-half display continued when Hobson charged through the home defence and dived between the sticks, with Smith slotting the kick.

A dominant first half performance was soured slightly for Quins when Benson was shown yellow for a deliberate knock-on and the hosts capitalised when Hodge grounded in the left corner, but Connon could not convert.

Early in the second half, Northmore sprinted from just inside the Newcastle half to score and Smith’s conversion attempt smashed the post.

A good move on the left saw Northmore turn provider to play Benson in and he coolly crossed before Smith converted.

Benson brought up his hat-trick three minutes later after combining with Will Porter to go over, with Smith’s kick successful, and Quins scored their 11th try of the game shortly afterwards when Bradley easily slipped through the defence.

Hodge earned his second try of the match for Newcastle after going over in the left corner and Healy added the extras.

However, Harlequins capped off a dominant afternoon when Staples dived through to score on his Prem debut, with Smith converting.

Newcastle Red Bulls 17-76 Harlequins

The scorers:

For Newcastle:
Tries: Brocklebank, Hodge 2
Cons: Healy

For Harlequins:
Tries: Dombrandt, Benson 3, Bradley 2, Murley, Riley, Smith, Hobson, Northmore, Staples
Cons: Smith 10

Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Sammy Arnold, 11 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Simón Benítez Cruz, 8 Reuben Parsons, 7 Tom Christie, 6 Tom Gordon, 5 Finn Baker, 4 Jamie Hodgson, 3 Micky Rewcastle, 2 George McGuigan (c), 1 Adam Brocklebank
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Connor Hancock, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Freddie Clarke, 20 Amanaki Mafi, 21 James Elliott, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Ethan Grayson

Harlequins: 15 Jamie Benson, 14 Cameron Anderson, 13 Luke Northmore, 12 Bryn Bradley, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Lucas Friday, 8 Alex Dombrandt (c), 7 Seb Driscoll, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 Elliot Williams, 4 Kieran Treadwell, 3 Pedro Delgado, 2 Sam Riley, 1 Will Hobson
Replacements: 16 Jimmy Staples, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Ollie Streeter, 19 Jonny Green, 20 Jack Kenningham, 21 Will Evans, 22 Will Porter, 23 Sean Kerr

Referee: Harry Walbaum
Assistant Referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, John Meredith
TMO: Peter Allan

Exeter Chiefs 35-12 Bath

The scorers:

For Exeter:
Tries: Iosefa-Scott, Brown-Bampoe, Ikitau, Ridl
Cons: Skinner, Slade 2
Pens: Slade 3

For Bath:
Tries: Frost, Underhill
Con: Frost

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Olly Woodburn, 14 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Campbell Ridl, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Christ Tshiunza, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 3 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 2 Max Norey, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Ethan Burger, 18 Bachuki Tchumbadze, 19 Rusi Tuima, 20 Finn Worley Brady, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Ben Hammersley

Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Will Butt, 11 Henry Arundell, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (captain), 8 Alfie Barbeary, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Ross Molony, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Dan Frost, 1 Francois van Wyk
Replacements: 16 Kepueli Tuipulotu, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Santi Carreras, 23 Cameron Redpath

Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce, Jonathan Healy
TMO: David Rose