Bath dig deep to see off Swansea and set up huge home showdown against BUCS Super Rugby title rivals Loughborough
A hard-earned bonus point victory in Swansea for the University of Bath men’s 1st XV has perfectly teed up a huge top-of-the-table clash against BUCS Super Rugby title rivals Loughborough.
The 26-17 win in South Wales means second-placed Bath, sponsored by Bath Building Society, stay within a point of the league leaders going into the potential title decider at the Team Bath Sports Training Village on Wednesday 4th March (6.30pm kick-off, free to watch).
Bath welcomed England U20 duo Sam Winters (pictured) and James Linegar back into the starting XV and they combined to give the visitors a fifth-minute lead, full-back Winters touching down and fly-half Linegar adding the extras.
Swansea responded with a try from captain Wills Austin but Bath forced a penalty try just before the half-hour mark to take a 14-5 lead into the break.
That was overturned inside the opening 20 minutes of the second half, though, as Elliot Smith touched down before a penalty try put Swansea 17-14 up.
Bath dug deep and a huge lineout drive ended with co-captain Max Pearce burrowing over for a try which gave the visitors a narrow two-point lead. He was then replaced by Wales U20 hooker Oscar Thomas, who scored moments after coming on to secure a crucial bonus point.
Linegar’s conversion completed the scoring as Bath, also supported by Rengen, held on for a victory which guaranteed a top-two league finish – their highest placing in the BUCS Super Rugby era.
Match stats
Swansea starting XV: 1 Morgan James, 2 Wills Austin, 3 Matthew Pryce, 4 Theo Currie, 5 Jake Roberts, 6 Oliver Lewis, 7 Tom Bogglemann, 8 Evan Weston; 9 Kai Inker, 10 Will Hammonds, 11 Tim Davies, 12 Ieuan Bissell, 13 James Price, 14 Elliot Smith, 15 Freddie Drake-Lee. Replacements: 16 Daf Ebsworth, 17 Callum Boland, 18 Harry Peckett, 19 Oliver Davies, 20 Oliver Jones, 21 Rhys Price, 22 Lew O’Brien, 23 Dom Smith.
Tries: Austin, Smith, penalty.
University of Bath starting XV: 1 Alfie Griffin, 2 Max Pearce (cc), 3 Henry Mountford, 4 Albert Dmitriev, 5 Isaac Sprenger, 6 Fred Kempton, 7 Iwan Coyle (cc), 8 Will Keylock; 9 Isaac Mears, 10 James Linegar, 11 Rocky Prowse, 12 Jamie Howick, 13 Jack Harrison, 14 Freddy Rossigneux, 15 Sam Winters. Replacements: 16 Oscar Thomas, 17 Jacob Yates, 18 Diamond Ayiehfor, 19 Tom Hilton, 20 Ollie Read, 21 Roman Andrews, 22 James Beverley, 23 Luc Anfield.
Tries: Winters, penalty, Pearce, Thomas.
Conversions: Linegar 2.
Picture credit: Bob Bradford.
