Battling Bath one win away from BUCS Super Rugby title after leapfrogging Loughborough on an epic evening at The Yard
An epic comeback victory in front of a boisterous home crowd saw the University of Bath men’s 1st XV leapfrog Loughborough to go top of the BUCS Super Rugby table with just one game to go.
The 40-31 win at The Yard, aka the Team Bath Sports Training Village 3G Pitch, means Bath can secure their first-ever BUCS Super Rugby league title with victory at fourth-placed Durham on Wednesday 11th March (6.30pm).
Head of Rugby Aaron James said: “We had to get the win tonight and we’ve given ourselves a shot. We are closer than we’ve ever been but it is so far from being done, next week is going to be tough. The boys will celebrate this, as they should, but then we are back on track.”
A huge crowd turned out to roar Bath to a crucial victory and James added: “It was great to put on a display that was entertaining for the people who came out to watch us. That support from right across the Bath community is really important to us, it humbles you and we are really proud. We’ll try to give them a prize next week.”
The hosts, sponsored by Bath Building Society, went into the match a point behind Loughborough and knew they had to record a 10th successive league victory in order to keep their title hopes alive.
They got off to a sluggish start, visiting scrum-half Rhys Hulse touching down inside the opening two minutes and Ben Taylor adding the extras, but Bath got back on level terms soon after as co-captain Max Pearce dummied his way over for the first of his three tries, James Linegar’s conversion making it 7-7.
Loughborough restored their lead twice more, through converted tries from Archie Kean and Eric Nixon, but Bath responded through replacement Roman Andrews and – on the stroke of half-time – a second from Pearce. Linegar converted the first of those tries to leave the half-time score poised at 21-19 to the visitors.
Loughborough again struck first in the second period, an unstoppable driving maul powering Ralfie Willott over, but a couple of tactical changes saw Bath slowly get on top and an outstanding team move ended with Andrews touching down on the hour mark.
Fellow replacement James Beverley’s conversion levelled the scores and within two minutes Bath were ahead for the first time, winger Harry Walker showing blistering pace and strength to surge over at the end of another flowing attack.
The conversion put Bath seven points clear and they gave themselves breathing space when player of the match Pearce completed his hat-trick in the 72nd minute, Beverley again adding the extras.
Loughborough had the final word through Tom Riman’s unconverted try but Bath, who are also supported by Rengen, took the all-important victory.
Pearce said: “It was a good game, fair play to Loughborough. They are a class outfit and they made it hard for us. The first half was nip and tuck but we changed our game plan a little in the second half, went more direct, and the last quarter really showed how hard we train at the weekend.
“Durham are a really good team. They pushed Loughborough really close last week and historically they know how to produce in the last couple of weeks of the season. It’s all about the preparation – don’t change anything and keep pushing on.”
Live stream
Match stats
University of Bath starting XV: 1 Jacob Yates, 2 Max Pearce (cc), 3 Alfie Griffin, 4 Albert Dmitriev, 5 Isaac Sprenger, 6 Fred Kempton, 7 Iwan Coyle (cc), 8 Will Keylock; 9 Isaac Mears, 10 James Linegar, 11 Oli Sedgwick, 12 Jack Harrison, 13 Jamie Howick, 14 Harry Walker, 15 Freddy Rossigneux. Replacements: 16 Evan Gallagher, 17 Ollie Critchley, 18 Diamond Ayiehfor, 19 Tom Hilton, 20 Ollie Read, 21 Roman Andrews, 22 James Beverley, 23 Rocky Prowse.
Tries: Pearce 3, Andrews 2, Walker.
Conversions: Linegar 2, Beverley 3.
Loughborough starting XV: 1 Eric Nixon, 2 Ralfie Willott, 3 Tom Dye, 4 Owain Evans (C), 5 Jake Bausor, 6 Keanu Coetsee, 7 Tayo Adegbemile, 8 Yande Nkonge; 9 Rhys Hulse, 10 Ben Taylor, 11 Kit Temperley, 12 Tom Riman, 13 Archie Kean, 14 Ben Turpin, 15 Elliot Gourlay. Replacements: 16 Henry Bonetti, 17 Oran Murphy, 18 Connor van Lille, 19 Mathis Dehauteur, 20 William Peart Smith, 21 Theo Mayell, 22 Matt Wickham, 23 Jack Howells.
Tries: Hulse, Kean, Nixon, Willott, Riman.
Conversions: Taylor 3.
