Bath Sporting Round-Up (December 4th-10th)

Bath Rugby get off to the perfect start in the Champions Cup, the Romans suffered a derby day defeat and faced a strong opponent in the FA Trophy.

Bath City vs Yeovil Town

Bath took on local rivals and table-topping Yeovil. The Romans needed a strong response after their tight loss to Chelmsford. Bath started strong with Dan Greensdale striking from far out and a deflection caused the effort to just fall wide. 

The Romans were pushing hard early on with Jordan Thomas going close, Cody Cooke would almost find him again moments later but the cross was just out of his reach. Then Dan Hayfield provided the best chance of the opening 16 minutes. Cutting into the area he drove a ball across the face of the goal but just behind Scott Wilson who would have had a tap-in. 

Jordan Thomas had been all over the Yeovil back line and nearly provided the opening assist as he swang a corner in that was met by skipper Kieran Parselle whose header was saved by the Yeovil keeper. 

Just before halftime, Elliott Frear had a chance in the Yeovil area that had to be blocked but despite all the chances they created the sides went in at halftime goalless.

Second Half

Yeovil started strongly in the second half Will Dawes swung in a great cross that had to be dealt with. 

Bath picked up where they had left off creating chance after chance the biggest chance so far came in the 61st minute when Elliott Frear fired and his shot was cleared off the line only inches from making it 1-0. 

Greensdale kept Yeovil making it 1-0 with a block on the line of his own, but the visitors were coming. 

With just ten minutes to go the league leaders struck Morgan Williams putting them 1-0 up with not long left on the clock.

Try all they might Bath just could not find an equaliser and the game ended with a second successive loss for the Romans. 

Bath City vs Boreham Wood

Bath took on Boreham Wood fresh off of their derby day defeat to Yeovil. The Romans found themselves taking on Boreham Wood in the FA Trophy. 

Boreham started strongly with Tom Whelan testing Will Buse early on. Bath had started slowly, Jordan Thomas won a free kick in a dangerous area but the chance was wasted and the visitors continued to outperform the Romans. 
Will Buse had been busy in the opening 25 minutes and made a brilliant save to deny Erico Sousa from opening the scoring. 

Bath would get their first big change in the 35th minute, Joe Raynes found Thomas with a fantastic ball over the top but the striker could only find the hands of Nathan Ashmore.

There had not been much quality to note in the first half as both sides struggled to create big chances. The two could not be separated at the break.    

Second Half

The second half started with Bath creating a real chance to take the lead. Luke Russe’s powerful volley was strongly saved by Ashmore. 

Boreham had their first chance of the second half not long after, Lee Ndlovu had a chance to score but completely scuffed his shot wide. Bath almost immediately responded with a chance of their own, Cody Cooke forced Ashmore into yet another save. The Boreham keeper was putting on a fantastic display to keep his side in the game. 

On the hour mark Boreham should have gone down to ten. Jack Payne somehow escaped an early bath for a horror challenge on Thomas, he only saw yellow and became the second Boreham player booked in two minutes.

As the game approached the final ten minutes there was a big shout for a penalty as the ball appeared to strike Ndlovu’s hand in the box but nothing was given. 

In the 86th minute, Bath would finally find a way past Ashmore. Cooke teed up Dan Hayfield who cooly finished to make it 1-0 to Bath with only minutes to spare. 

The Romans would see the game out for a 1-0 win as they go marching on in the FA Trophy.

Bath Rugby vs Ulster Rugby

Bath took on Ulster Rugby in the first round of the Investec Champions Cup. Hoping to get off to a strong start and keep the wins flowing. 

The game would start with both sides clashing and struggling to get through the other defence. Bath's first real chance to put some points on the board came in the 15th minute when a penalty was awarded seemingly within kicking range but Finn Russell could only slice wide of the posts. 

It would take 28 minutes to get the first points on the board but they would come the way of Bath, Ben Spencer winning the ball from a scrum and launching it up and out to Joe Cokanasiga, who crashed home to score, Spencer would miss the conversion meaning it was 5-0 Bath. 

A few minutes later Bath would add another three points to their tally as Spencer converted a penalty. Straight from the restart, Ulster would respond with Billy Burns charging and going over, Nathan Doak was on hand to convert and bring the score to 8-7. 
The away side wasn't stopping at one try and just three minutes later found another Nathan Doak scoring despite the pass to him appearing to be forward, the scorer would convert his try to make it 14-8.

Half time would come and Ulster would controversially lead by six at the break. 

Second Half

Bath started strong and scored a try just six minutes into the second half. Tom Dunn scored with Spencer's conversion restoring a one-point lead for Bath. 

In the 55th minute Bath would score again Spencer would get in on the scoring as he added another penalty kick to take the lead out to 18-14. After a strong start Bath settled in to defend their lead whilst still pushing to take the lead higher and higher. 

Thomas Du Toit would be the next to score as he added another try, Spencer converted to take the score to 25-14. Just three minutes later Cokanasiga had his second try of the game and the result was no longer in question sitting at 30-14 to Bath.

With one minute to go Bath added a fifth try for good measure, Matty Gallagher going over to score the final points as the game came to a close at 37-14. 

Bath gets off to the perfect start in the Champions Cup and will be hoping to keep their run going when they face Cardiff Rugby next.