Gloucester 27-45 Bath: West Country derby goes the way of Bath after storming second half display

A steely second-half comeback from Bath saw them top the table with a 45-27 scoreline, their largest-ever win away to Gloucester.

A sole first-half try from England centre Ollie Lawrence sent Bath into half-time with a ten-point deficit.

They kicked on after the break with tries from Will Muir, Thomas du Toit, Beno Obano, a penalty try, and a second from Lawrence to seal a convincing victory in the fiercely contested West Country derby.

Gloucester provided a thrilling end-to-end contest in the first half with tries from international stars Chris Harris and Santiago Carreras which sent them into half time with a 20-10 lead. They were unable to combat Bath’s comeback in the final 40 minutes and Matias Alemanno’s try was their only score in the second half.

Scores were level after the first ten minutes after penalties from George Barton and Finn Russell gave their sides three points each.

Despite the loss of captain Ben Spencer to a yellow card in the third minute, Bath withstood the Gloucester attack to not concede any further points during their ten minutes with 14 men.

Scotland’s Harris scored Gloucester’s first in the 18th minute as he powered through the arms of Spencer, who had recently returned to the pitch, to score in the corner.

Bath levelled the scores again five minutes later as Lawrence perfectly timed his run to evade both Stephen Varney and Barton to have him a clear run to the line, complemented by Russell’s conversion.

Carreras scored Gloucester’s second four minutes later as the dancing feet of England’s Jonny May drew them close to the line before the Puma was released to smoothly dot down in the corner. He converted his own score to give Gloucester the ten-point lead to head into half-time.

Bath pulled away in the second half and scored a further five tries to move well clear of the home team by the time the full-time whistle sounded.

Their first came from a hurtling Muir after he received a perfect long pass from Max Ojomoh. The wing bounced off the attempted tackle from Carreras to run free and score on the left-hand side.

Du Toit added their third of the match as he muscled over the line from close range, which saw him take the lead as the top try-scorer in the competition. Russell added the conversion to give Bath a four-point lead.

Their next was scored by Obano, again from a strong drive from close range, to extend their lead. Within minutes they were awarded a penalty try which saw Gloucester’s Jack Clement sent to the sin bin for ten minutes.

Despite their one-man deficit, Gloucester scored their only try of the second half through Alemanno four minutes later as the Los Pumas second-row wriggled through the tackle to score next to the posts. He injured himself in the process and left the field a few moments later.

Bath did not stop when the clock ticked into the red, and their dogged determination saw Lawrence sail away uncontested for his second of the match.

Russell had the final word to silence the Kingsholm faithful with the conversion that completed Bath’s largest-ever win at Castle Grim, their seventh out of their last ten trips to Gloucester.

After the match, Johann van Graan spoke to TNT Sports. He said: "It was pretty simple really [at half-time], we made seven errors in our own half in the first half and we spoke about being clinical in our own half. If you give Gloucester quick ball and you give them seven opportunities, you’re going to concede a few points.

"We had the opportunity from Miles [Reid] that we didn’t finish first up, but we know with the team that we’ve got if we can just get into the opposition 22 on a dry night we believe we can score some tries. Credit to the playing group, I thought the second half was pretty cool. We learnt quite a lot from our game here last season where Gloucester were 17-0 up and we selected a team with balance. We know that this is a 23-man effort and at half-time we said even if they go another score up, we can come back.

"The game fell away, George [Skivington] is a brilliant coach and Gloucester are a brilliant team and we got a bit of momentum in the second half. I though we defended our line pretty well in the second half as well. I’m pretty proud of the group tonight. Thomas [du Toit] is a special man. I met him having previously coached him for the Springboks and with the challenges we have in England from a salary cap point of view, I looked at what I could do from a squad perspective.

"I went out and found a prop that can play both sides of the scrum, that I believe is the best in the world, to back up the brilliant players that we already have. We’ve got three guys Beno [Obano], Will [Stuart], and Thomas specifically around the pick-and-go, that’s pretty special.

"He’s [du Toit] been in fantastic form and it was a big disappointment for him not to be at the World Cup, but he certainly put it in the picture for us at the start of his Bath career. Look, he just fitted in straight away. He hasn’t really said a word yet, he’s been the captain of the Sharks, the captain of South Africa A, but he’s fitted really well with our setup."

Bath took five points from the match to top the table with 15 points from three wins out of five matches, while Gloucester remain down in eighth on nine points. A win for ninth-placed Leicester Tigers against Harlequins would see them overtake Gloucester before the end of the weekend.

Bath took control in the second-half to win the fierce 141-year-old West Country Derby, the oldest Premiership rivalry. After winning both encounters with the Cherry and Whites last season, they continue to hold the bragging rights until they next meet on the January 7, 2024.

Not only does their win give them the prestigious victory in the West Country, but it also sees them sail to the top of the standings with 15 points, one point above Exeter. While Exeter could move above them with the result of their upcoming match against Northampton Saints on Sunday, Johann van Graan’s Bath already look like a club rejuvenated after some astute signings over the summer to complement the strong foundations from last season.

Bath’s galloping winger scored their first try of the second half to begin to turn the screw, and was electrifying in attack.

After the match he said to TNT Sports' Martin Bayfield: “We said at half-time that we hadn’t really fired any shots, we were on the back foot a lot. We found ourselves defending for the majority of the first half so we knew when we got our foot in the game and we could have a good attack, we could really turn it on.

“They’ve got some quality lands on the end and they do move it from side to side really well. There’s some quality on the wings and they were quite a handful in the first half trying to keep them contained.

“That first try in the second half was the turning point. We found ourselves taking a few more chances, quick tap penalties, things like that, sort of coming into our own a bit more. It was definitely a game of two halves.

“The last time I played here it was that we were on the other side of a a big score [0-64], it’s all I’ve thought about for the last two years. It’s good to come back to get a bit of revenge in that way.”

Gloucester XV: Carreras 7, May 6, Harris 7, Atkinson 5, Thorley 6, Barton 6, Varney 6, Vivas 6, McGuigan 6 , Balmain 6, Clarke 5, Alemanno 7, Clement 4, Ludlow (capt.) 6, Tuisue 6

Replacements: Socino 5, Ford-Robinson 5, Gotovtsev 5, Thomas 5, Donnell 5, Young (n/a), Llewellyn 5, Rees-Zammit 5

Bath XV: De Glanville 7, Cokanasiga 7, Lawrence 9, Ojomoh 8, Muir 9, Russell 9, Spencer (capt.) 8; Obano 9, Dunn 8, Stuart 8, Lee-Warner 7, Ewels 7, Reid 8, Underhill 9, Barbeary 9

Replacements: Annett 7, Schoeman 7, Du Toit 9, McNally 7, Coetzee 7 , Carr-Smith (n/a), Harris (n/a), Gallagher 7

7' - George Barton's penalty gives Gloucester an early lead

10' - Finn Russell's penalty draws the two sides level

18' - Chris Harris scores Gloucester's first try

23' - Ollie Lawrence scores his first of the match for Bath

27' - Santiago Carreras scores Gloucester's second

49' - Will Muir scores Bath's second try

53' - Thomas du Toit scores Bath's third

60' - Beno Obano gives Bath the try bonus point

64' - Bath are awarded a penalty try

68' - Matias Alemanno scores Gloucester's only try of the second half

81' - Lawrence bags a second to end the match

81' - Russell ends the match

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