Bath Sporting Round-Up

Bath Rugby had the chance to go top of the Gallagher Premiership, and it was another double header for Bath City.

Bath City faced a doubleheader with Frome Town in the Somerset Cup and then with fellow play-off pushers Chelmsford City in the National League South. Bath Rugby could take advantage of Sale falling short at Harlequins and move level at the top of the Gallagher Premiership but could Exeter Chiefs cause an upset? 

Bath City vs Frome Town

The Romans face a midweek Somerset Cup clash with Frome Town, Bath started the game strongly having a chance within the first couple of minutes Jordan Dyer looping a headed effort into the arms of the Frome keeper. 

Frome had quickly grown into the game and had a short spell of chances that nothing really came from. The spell of chances would come to an end with Bath winning a free kick in a dangerous area, but Ewan Clark’s effort would go sailing over the bar. 

Bath had done well to nullify the visitor's attack whilst creating plenty of chances of their own. Oscar Thorn had been everywhere and had multiple big chances as the loanee looked to open the scoring for the Romans. 

Frome keeper Tom Roberts had been doing all he could to keep the visitors in the game, pulling off multiple saves to deny the Romans who were now constantly threatening the opposition's goal.

Despite an unrelenting wall of pressure on the Frome goal, the game would somehow be level at the break with neither side finding the back of the net. 

Second Half

Bath hadn’t found the opener despite all their pressure in the first half but the deadlock was broken just two minutes into the second Scott Wilson found the ball on the edge of the area and fired past Roberts to make it 1-0. 

Following the opener Bath continued to pressure the Frome goal Thorn had a strike saved, and then a few minutes later Clark tried a half-volley from range that found the roof of the goal.  

Thorn and Clark would combine in the 74th minute, Thorn won the ball after hassling the defender into a mistake, he then found Clark who tapped home to make it 2-0. The third followed soon after with 10 minutes to go Cody Cooke got in on the action after he fired home from a Joe Raynes cross to make it 3-0.

A late consolation from the hosts was not enough to spark a comeback as Bath progressed to the next round of the Somerset Cup. 

Bath City vs Chelmsford City

Bath’s second fixture of the week saw them take on Chelmsford City in the National League South. The Romans hoped to move back into contention for the top play-off places and were taking on fellow play-off pushers Chelmsford. 

The hosts started the game strongly winning a penalty in the seventh minute, Bath had been in control of the opening exchanges and had the perfect opportunity to take the lead early on. 

Oscar Thorne continued his strong start to life at Bath by winning the penalty. Cody Cooke continued his streak of scoring by powering the penalty into the bottom corner making it 1-0 to Bath. 

The chances were coming thick and fast as Bath searched for a second goal. Cooke went close before the visitors got their first real chance, Will Buse saving well to deny Freddie Hockey from close range. 

Both sides had numerous chances to go ahead and as the action approached half-time neither side could find the vital goal. Bath would get another chance from the spot as the game approached halftime. Jazzi Barnum-Bobb would get a red card and Bath would have a chance to double their lead. 

Cooke made no mistake finding the other corner of the goal and giving the Romans a 2-0 lead. It wouldn’t be long until Chelmsford found a way back into the game, Josh Castiglione’s ball across the box saw Dan Greensdale put the ball into his own net, scoring an own goal and giving the visitors a way back into the game at halftime. 

Second Half

The second half got underway with both sides continuing to trade chances but the next goal would fall to the visitors after getting a penalty of their own. Charlie Ruff was brought down in the area, allowing Hockey to power home and bring Chelmsford level. 

Just three minutes later in the 63rd minute Hockey would double his tally and give Chelmsford the lead. The visitors had deserved their goals and Bath would need to show some strong resolve to get back into the game. 

Scott Wilson and Cooke both had good chances to tie the game but neither could get their shot to go in. The half would settle down with full-time rapidly approaching Bath needed to find a goal from somewhere.

With seven minutes added one Bath took nearly all of it to have a chance at an equaliser in the 97th minute Joe Raynes nearly headed home from a corner, then Wilson went inches from finding Bath's vital goal but the offside flag was raised.

After a final free-kick was fired into the wall the game came to an end and Bath suffered their first loss in five league games. 

Bath Rugby vs Exeter Chiefs

Following their tight loss to league leaders Sale Sharks, Bath needed to keep themselves in the title fight by beating the Exeter Chiefs. Bath came into the game knowing a win would take them level with Sale following their heavy 36-3 loss to the Harlequins. 

Bath started strong Alfie Barbeary scoring the opening try in the seventh minute but Finn Russell’s conversion was wide of the posts. 

Exeter pushed for a response making the game open and very end to end, despite the visitor's charge Bath would be next to score in the 21st minute when Cameron Redpath went over and this time Russell converted to give Bath a 12-0 lead. 

The 25th minute saw Exeter get their first points on the board Henry Slade found a gap in the Bath defence and brought the Chiefs their first try of the game. The scorer was on hand to convert and bring the game to five points. 

Exeter would get a chance to narrow the gap even more just six minutes later from a penalty that saw Slade add another three to his growing score tally and make it 12-10 as halftime approached. 

Despite a late scrum down near the Chief's end Bath could not add any further points and the half-time score was 12-10 to the hosts.

Second Half

The second half got underway and it took only three minutes for Bath to score captain Ben Spencer and Joe Cokanasiga combined beautifully and the skipper went over to score making it 17-10. 

Bath looked to punish Exeter as they went inches from scoring but after being held up the hosts got a penalty that Russell had no issues converting extending the lead out to 20-10. A high-scoring affair saw Exeter reply immediately with Stu Townsend only just making it across the line, Slade converted and the game was down to three. 

Exeter would go down a man after Townsend was shown a yellow card and Bath would take full advantage with Cokanasiga scoring and taking the lead to ten. Another try would follow shortly after in the 67th minute Barbeary would get his second try of the game with Russell converting to push Bath into an almost unassailable 34-17 lead.

Four minutes later in the 71st minute, Will Butt’s try and Russell's conversion would take the score up to 41. With just nine minutes remaining in the game surely there was no way back for the Chiefs. 

The 80 minutes were up but Exeter had one last try to score, the try was nothing but a consolation as the fulltime whistle came and Bath had the perfect response to their tight loss to Sale the 41-24 win moving them level with Sale Sharks at the top of the Gallagher Premiership.