Fierce fightback against Nottingham sees Bath make winning start to 2025 and move up to second in BUCS Super Rugby table
A barnstorming last 20 minutes saw the University of Bath men’s 1st XV turn a 32-17 deficit into a 39-32 victory as they kicked off 2025 with a rearranged BUCS Super Rugby away fixture against Nottingham.
The original fixture had been snowed off in November and icy temperatures meant Sunday’s rescheduled contest had to be moved to the artificial pitch at Leicester Forest East RFC.
Bath took a while to get warmed up and found themselves 13-0 down after as many minutes, following two penalties and a converted try, before grabbing their first points of the game through a Tom Hilton touchdown. Nottingham responded with another converted try before Luc Anfield scored on the stroke of half-time to reduce the deficit to 20-10.
The hosts notched the first try of the second half and while Harvey Cuckson touched down at the other end, with Raff Weston adding the extras, another converted try just before the hour mark left Bath trailing 32-17.
Bath knew victory would move them up to second in the table, though, and fought back strongly. Replacement Jamie Howick and Will Keylock touched down within three minutes of each other and Will Roue’s conversion for the latter cut the gap to 32-29.
The visitors then edged ahead for the first time with five minutes to go through a Ieuan Davies try. Roue (pictured top) again added the conversion and made sure of a hard-earned win with a late penalty.
Next up for Bath, who are sponsored by Bath Building Society and Rengen, is a home match against Cardiff Met at the Team Bath Sports Training Village on Wednesday 22nd January. Kick-off is 6.30pm and admission is free.
Line-ups
Nottingham starting XV: 1 Fin McIntosh, 2 Michael Cantle, 3 Kane Fleary, 4 Will Ramply, 5 Ollie Barker, 6 Kieran Perkins, 7 Lawrence Adediran, 8 Ben Glanville; 9 Max Cornford, 10 Jamie Annand (c), 11 Alex Garrett, 12 Freddie Vaughan, 13 Ryan Sweeting, 14 Will Darbishire, 15 Harry Simpson. Replacements: 16 Sam Loftus, 17 Tabz Makanza, 18 Fred Ma’a, 19 Dan Stephenson, 20 Sammy Lee, 21 Connor O’Byrne, 22 Kahil Oreagba, 23 Cian Gerber.
University of Bath starting XV: 1 Jacob Yates, 2 Max Pearce (c), 3 Alfie Griffin, 4 Max Mayor, 5 Harvey Cuckson, 6 Tom Hilton, 7 Will Keylock, 8 Ollie Read; 9 leuan Davies, 10 Raff Weston, 11 Tyler Offiah, 12 Luc Anfield, 13 Will Roue, 14 Freddy Rossigneux, 15 Austin Emens. Replacements: 16 Yujian Zou, 17 Oban Baird, 18 Henry Mountford, 19 Albert Dmitriev, 20 Frazer Falzon, 21 Archie Friend, 22 Jamie Howick, 23 Oli Sedgwick.
Picture credit: Bob Bradford.
