Second-half surge sees six-try Bath beat Leeds Beckett to record first BUCS Super Rugby victory at new 3G Pitch home
The University of Bath men’s 1st XV marked the first BUCS Super Rugby match on their new home 3G Pitch by beating Leeds Beckett 42-14 after a strong start and finish.
The teams were locked at 14-14 at the interval but the hosts, sponsored by Bath Building Society, took full advantage of the fast-paced, World Rugby-standard surface to run in four second-half tries in front of an appreciative crowd.
Bath made only a couple of changes to the XV that had started the previous week’s 54-21 victory at defending champions Hartpury, with Jack Woods starting at full-back and Alex Ridgway making his first BUCS Super Rugby start at Number 8.
They got off to a strong start as tries from Rory McKnight and Luc Anfield, both converted by Will Roue, gave them a 14-0 lead after 24 minutes. That was cancelled out before the break, though, as Leeds touched down twice in four minutes.
Bath responded positively and restored their advantage five minutes into the second half through Woods’ first try of the evening, again converted by Roue.
The game remained in the balance until 13 minutes from time when England U20 winger Tyler Offiah dived over for the bonus-point try. Roue’s conversion gave Bath breathing space and he went on to add the extras to late tries from Woods and Charlie Griffin.
Next up for Bath – also supported by Team Bath partners Rengen – is a visit to Cardiff Met on Wednesday 8th October.
Free tickets are also now available for the Anniversary Game, sponsored by Colour Studios, which sees Bath take on South West rivals at The Rec on Wednesday 15th October. Visit teambath.com/anniversary-game to find out more.
Match stats
University of Bath starting XV: 1 Claudius Wheeler, 2 Max Pearce (cc), 3 Alfie Griffin, 4 Rory McKnight, 5 Tate Williams, 6 Connor Treacey (cc), 7 Iwan Coyle, 8 Alex Ridgway; 9 Isaac Mears, 10 Will Roue, 11 Tyler Offiah, 12 Luc Anfield, 13 Charlie Griffin, 14 Austin Emens, 15 Jack Woods. Replacements: 16 Kepu Tuipulotu, 17 Jacob Yates, 18 Diamond Ayiehfor, 19 Isaac Sprenger, 20 Will Keylock, 21 Roman Andrews, 22 James Linegar, 23 Sam Winters.
Tries: McKnight, Anfield, Woods 2, Offiah, Griffin.
Conversions: Roue 6.
Leeds Beckett starting XV: 1 Matt Casselden, 2 Ben Bailey, 3 Charlie Keith, 4 Мах А-Р, 5 Mario Ikuomola-Andre, 6 Tommy Triggs, 7 Leo Ravaudet, 8 Louie Kirkham (c); 9 Toby Morley, 10 Louie Heard, 11 Joe Atkinson, 12 Ben Irvine, 13 Charlie Hart, 14 Jody Devine, 15 Charlie Lawson. Replacements: 16 Freddie Kenyon, 17 Kassim Dawud, 18 Tom Donnelly, 19 Harry Gresswell, 20 Luca Wakeling-Salami, 21 Ollie Milward, 22 Josh Bailey, 23 Freddie Simcott.
