Bath sneak West Country derby

Editor

Bath relied on five penalties from the inconsistent boot of young fly-half George Ford to defeat Gloucester 15-13 at The Rec.

Bath relied on five penalties from the inconsistent boot of young fly-half George Ford to defeat Gloucester 15-13 at The Rec.

Three Ford penalties to Freddie Burns' one gave the hosts a 9-3 advantage at the interval before the home side's stand-off added a further two in the second period.

Although Burns touched down and scored his second three-pointer to earn the Cherry and Whites a losing bonus-point, they couldn't find that much needed win.

Gloucester went into this game in 10th place with just two wins from five matches and they struggled to get a foothold early on against their West Country rivals.

The hosts' powerful pack and the visitors' mistake-ridden opening was the primary contributor to Bath controlling territory and possession.

That pressure saw Nigel Davies' men infringe and Ford kicked the Rec-based team ahead after just five minutes.

However, in atrocious conditions, both teams failed to add to the score until just before the half-hour when the home side's stand-off was on target once again from the tee.

Ford then gave Bath a nine-point buffer, but Burns at least got the Cherry and Whites on the board with a three-pointer of his own.

Gloucester struggled in the early part of the second half as Gary Gold's side dominated the set-piece. But a fourth penalty from their pivot was all they had to show for their territory.

Rupert Harden, the visitors' prop, was also spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin for repeated infringements by his team, yet it was last season's fifth placed Premiership side that were next on the scoreboard through a Burns try.

The respective fly-halves traded three-pointers as the game entered the final 13 minutes, but Gloucester couldn't find that elusive score to snatch the win.

The scorers:

For Bath:
Pens: Ford 5
Yellow Card: Watson

For Gloucester:
Try: Burns
Con: Burns
Pen: Burns 2
Yellow Card: Harden

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Carl Fearns, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Stuart Hooper (c), 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 19 Will Spencer, 20 Alafoti Fa'osiliva, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Gavin Henson, 23 Horacio Agulla.

Gloucester: 15 Rob Cook, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Jonny May, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Tom Savage (capt), 5 James Hudson, 4 Elliott Stooke, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Dan Murphy.
Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 James Gibbons, 19 Will James, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Charlie Sharples, 23 Akapusi Qera.

Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Paul Burton, Paul Dix
Television match official: Sean Davey
Timekeeper: Clive Leeke
Assessor: Tony Spreadbury