Dramatic last-kick penalty earns Bath redemption win against Exeter and a first Sandy Park success in BUCS Super Rugby
James Beverley’s nerveless penalty from the last kick of the game (pictured) sealed a first BUCS Super Rugby victory at Sandy Park for the University of Bath men’s 1st XV against South West rivals Exeter.
As in the reverse fixture, the memorable Anniversary Game at The Rec, Bath were trailing in the 80th minute and putting the Exeter defence under fierce pressure. However, while they couldn’t quite force a winning score back in October, the visitors found a way through on this occasion to secure a famous 20-18 success.
Bath, sponsored by Bath Building Society, were without 12 players on international duty and conceded two unconverted tries inside the opening 18 minutes.
The visitors demonstrated tremendous strength, both in depth and character, to turn the game on its head through tries either side of half-time from Isaac Sprenger and Will Keylock, Beverley converting the latter to put Bath 12-10 up.
Scrum-half Isaac Mears then burst onto a smart pass from Iwan Coyle to score Bath’s third try midway through the second half, only for Exeter to respond in kind and set up a tense closing 10 minutes.
Exeter thought they had won it when, with 79 minutes on the clock, Benjy Mills kicked a penalty to put the hosts 18-17 up. However, Bath forced a lineout from the restart and kept the ball alive for the next few minutes before forcing a decisive penalty of their own.
The win means it remains a two-horse race between Bath and Loughborough at the top of the table, with third-placed Durham a further 12 points back.
Next up for Bath, who are also supported by Rengen, is the latest defence of the BUCS Challenge Shield on their 3G home pitch when Cardiff visit the Team Bath Sports Training Village on Wednesday 11th February (6.30pm kick-off, free admission).
Watch the match in full
Match stats
Exeter starting XV: 1 Tupeni Ralogaivau, 2 Tyler Bayley, 3 Tom Gulley, 4 Felix Starkey, 5 Charlie Evered, 6 James Boylan, 7 Archie Kane, 8 Sammy Erskine (c); 9 James Howard, 10 Nic Allison, 11 Noah Fenton, 12 Frank Jefferies, 13 Rory Ellerby, 14 Ollie Miall, 15 Jed Findlay. Replacements: 16 Alex Osborn, 17 Finlay Gillgrass, 18 Albert Dowse, 19 Charlie Bell, 20 Harry Woodman, 21 Freddie Skinner, 22 Benjy Mills, 23 Dewi Thomas.
Tries: Fenton 2, Dowse.
Penalties: Mills.
University of Bath starting XV: 1 Archie McNicol, 2 Max Pearce (cc), 3 Alfie Griffin, 4 Tom Hilton, 5 Isaac Sprenger, 6 Fred Kempton, 7 Iwan Coyle (cc), 8 Will Keylock; 9 Isaac Mears, 10 James Beverley, 11 Rocky Prowse, 12 Oscar Bennett, 13 Jamie Howick, 14 Oli Sedgwick, 15 Harry Walker. Replacements: 16 Evan Gallagher, 17 Ollie Critchley, 18 Henry Mountford, 19 Albert Dmitriev, 20 Evan Jones, 21 Roman Andrews, 22 Jack Winfield, 23 Ollie Read.
Tries: Sprenger, Keylock, Mears.
Conversions: Beverley.
Penalties: Beverley.
