Bath battle back from sluggish start to overcome Cardiff and set up home BUCS Super Rugby semi-final against Durham
The double-chasing University of Bath men’s 1st XV fought back from 27-0 down to overcome an inspired Cardiff team and reach the BUCS Super Rugby Milk Championship semi-finals.
The league champions, sponsored by Bath Building Society, rallied from a sluggish start to eventually emerge with a 48-30 victory that sets up a last-four showdown with Durham at the Team Bath Sports Training Village on Wednesday 8th April (6.30pm).
Bath went into the quarter-finals on a high after sealing their maiden BUCS Super Rugby league title a fortnight earlier. They were further boosted by the return of five players from U20 Six Nations international duty, with Tate Williams, England captain Connor Treacey and Italy’s Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi lining up in back row, Luc Anfield starting at centre and fellow Wales international Oscar Thomas among the replacements.
Flanker Rory McKnight, fly-half Will Roue and winger Austin Emens also made their first appearances of 2026 but Bath found themselves firmly on the back foot during the opening 30 minutes as Cardiff – who finished eighth in the league table – took the game to their hosts.
They scored a converted try inside three minutes and added two more before the midway point of the first half, then kicked a penalty and drop goal to open up a stunning 27-0 lead.
Bath – cheered on by a 1,000-strong crowd – gave themselves a lifeline with two tries from senior Italy international Opoku-Gyamfi (pictured top), both converted by Roue. They came either side of another Cardiff penalty which meant the hosts trailed 30-14 at the break.
Co-captain Max Pearce touched down just after the restart, Roue again adding the conversion, but Cardiff remained resolute until just before the hour mark when Bath finally turned the game around with two tries in as many minutes from replacements Will Keylock and Iwan Coyle. Roue converted both as Bath, who are also supported by Rengen, edged into a 35-30 lead.
England U20 international Sam Winters went over in the 68th minute to give them some breathing space before a James Beverley penalty and last-minute try from Freddy Rossigneux secured hard-earned progress for Bath on an evening when prop Alfie Griffin made his 50th first-team appearance.
Durham, who beat Nottingham 35-21 in their quarter-final, stand between Bath and a first-ever Milk Championship final. Ticket information for the semi-final, which will be played on the 3G Pitch, will be available at rugby.teambath.com.
Match stats
University of Bath starting XV: 1 Jacob Yates, 2 Max Pearce (cc), 3 Diamond Ayiehfor, 4 Isaac Sprenger, 5 Rory McKnight, 6 Tate Williams, 7 Connor Treacey (cc), 8 Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi; 9 Isaac Mears, 10 Will Roue, 11 Sam Winters, 12 Luc Anfield, 13 Jack Harrison, 14 Austin Emens, 15 Freddy Rossigneux. Replacements: 16 Oscar Thomas, 17 Claudius Wheeler, 18 Alfie Griffin, 19 Albert Dmitriev, 20 Will Keylock, 21 Iwan Coyle, 22 Roman Andrews, 23 James Beverley.
Tries: Opoku-Gyamfi 2, Pearce, Keylock, Coyle, Winters, Rossigneux.
Conversions: Roue 5.
Penalty: Beverley.
Cardiff starting XV: 1 Josh Twigg, 2 Dylan Line, 3 Matt Towndrow, 4 Dan Bassett, 5 Tom Purchas, 6 Alex Salah, 7 James Smith, 8 Billy Moxey (c); 9 Finn Charles, 10 Harrison James, 11 Jack Thomas, 12 Lloyd McEwan-Peters, 13 Tom Unsworth, 14 Mason Archer, 15 Charlie Brook. Replacements: 16 James Goldsworthy, 17 Lewis Jones, 18 Oliver Desforges Cengarle, 19 Ollie Close, 20 Isaac Buck, 21 Luke Rowley, 22 Tomi Booth, 23 Oli Das.
Tries: Thomas, Archer, Unsworth.
Conversions: James 3.
Penalties: James 2.
Drop goal: James.
