Bath rugby lose their second game on the bounce and their opening European Challenge Cup game to Glasgow Warriors 22-19 in a tightly contested match.
Three first half tries from Lewis Bean, George Turner and Huw Jones saw Glasgow gain 19 points before the break. Glasgow’s first couple of tries came through their forwards with Bean crashing over from close range after a period of sustained pressure and Turner flopping over the line after a driving maul. However, Jones’ try was flashier as he dummied and stepped Josh Bayliss, Fergus Lee-Warner and then managed to keep his legs pumping as he got away from Wesley White.
Bath stayed in hot pursuit with two of their own first-half tries through Wesley White and Lee-Warner. Much Like Glasgow these tries we from close range and through the forwards, following some great maul defence from Glasgow White picked and go’d from the pile of bodies and then wrestled the ball over the line. Lee-Warner’s try mirrored Bean’s as he powered through a couple defenders to eventually dot down.
The second 40 was very low on points with just a single try being scored by Bath’s Matt Gallagher taking the scores level to 19-19. A tap and go five metres from Glasgow’s try line from Captain Tom Dunn kick-started a number of high-pressure phases which eventually ended in Ben Spencer fizzing a pass to Gallagher who just had to dive into the corner for the try. However, a late penalty kick from Duncan Weir saw Glasgow secure the win on the road. Final score Bath 19-22 Glasgow Warriors.
After the game Van Graan expressed his frustration with Bath’s slow start and missed chances that allowed Glasgow to score two early tries:
“Disappointed with our start giving them a 12-0 lead, we did well to come back but were pretty frustrated to concede right before halftime
“We had chances at the end to go and win it after going level again and then behind but we couldn’t find it so another one where I’m disappointed, we didn’t come away with the result”
Considering it was forward dominated game the former Munster coach wasn’t very pleased with how his pack struggled with their set-piece throughout the game:
“I think are set-piece across the eighty is not good enough, we started off by conceding in the scrum twice and then managed to get on top and then the lineout we started well but then we lost the first two straight after halftime so it’s not consistent enough across the match.”
Johan Van Graan’s men will have to win their next three pool games, two against Toulon and one more away to Glasgow, to keep their chances of advancing into the next phase of the tournament alive.
