Olly Barkley kicked his eighth penalty after the final hooter to snatch a 24-23 win for Bath over Worcester at Sixways on Saturday.
Barkley kicked all of Bath's points as the West Country outfit overcame Warriors in a tense encounter.
The first half was dominated by the respective 10's as Andy Goode scored five penalties to Barkley's two to give Worcester the advantage at the interval.
James Percival went over for the only try of the game and Goode added another three-pointer, but the visiting fly-half scored six second-half penalties to give them a narrow victory.
Last season, even though the hosts reached their target of avoiding relegation, they struggled to score tries, instead relying on the boot of fly-halves Goode and Joe Carlisle. That certainly didn't change here with the former England international displaying outstanding form from the tee.
Two early penalties from the fly-half put the Warriors 6-0 up early on before a third extended their lead after 11 minutes. Matt Banahan was then sin-binned for the visitors and Goode kicked the resultant three-pointer for a deserved 12-point advantage.
However, after Dean Schofield and Stuart Hooper were yellow carded for either side, Barkley reduced the arrears with two penalties of his own.
But Goode continued his fine form with the boot as Worcester led 15-6 at the break.
Despite an excellent first half performance, the Warriors' advantage was gradually whittled away in the second period.
Barkley, another former capped England player, added his third from the tee before two more penalties in four minutes from the fly-half brought the sides level.
The visiting 10 scored his sixth three-pointer as Bath took the lead for the first time, but Percival's try regained the hosts' advantage. Goode and Barkley then traded penalties before the latter secured the win with the last kick of the game.
The scorers:
For Worcester:
Try: Percival
Pens: Goode 6
For Bath:
Pens: Barkley 8
Yellow cards: Banahan (Bath - 13th min); Hooper (Bath - 19th min); Schofield (worcester - 19th min)
Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Josh Drauniniu, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 David Lemi, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Shaun Perry, 8 Semisi Taulava, 7 Sam Betty, 6 Chris Jones, 5 Dean Schofield (c), 4 James Percival, 3 John Andress, 2 Aleki Lutui, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Ollie Hayes, 17 Ceri Jones, 18 James Currie, 19 Craig Gillies, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Joe Carlisle, 23 Ben Howard.
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Tom Biggs, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Matt Banahan, 11 Kyle Eastmond, 10 Olly Barkley, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Ben Skirving, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Carl Fearns, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Stuart Hooper (c), 3 David Wilson, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Kane Palma-Newport, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Will Skuse, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Ollie Devoto, 23 Jack Cuthbert
Venue: Sixways
Referee: Luke Pearce
Comments
APV1 says...
@ Warrior7 - you need a better fly half?! As jamesliveinhope we're down to a choice of Barkley or Vesty, neither of whom are 10s really (12 and 15 respectively).
@ sirtidychris - I have to agree that I wouldn't put Banaman and Hipkiss in the centres together. It's a bit like Tuilagi and Barritt for England - you need a 12 with some attacking flair, to compliment the lump at 13. Williams and Hipkiss for me, with Bananaman on the bench.
Bet we won and that means we're 6th on the table. And that's the best way to start - with a win away.
Posted 09:44 03rd September 2012
sirtidychris says...
Not a bad start from bath playing worcester at home, we edged a very close game and it starts to build the mentality we need this year and its the first W on the sheet. Bath at the moment are without our 2 first choice flyhalfs, the mid field is horrendously unbalanced with lumbering banahan teaming with hipkiss in midfield. Banahan is a liability in the centres but very usefull at AP level on the wings, personally until we get donald or heathcote back i would use someone like ben williams at inside centre or vesty at 10 and barkley at 12, we will not be scoring tries with hipkiss and banahan (uncreative boshers).
Posted 15:35 02nd September 2012
Centre12 says...
Not impressed by Bath's performance at all, this has got to change ASAP!!!!! The only other game that will be nearly as easy as this will be against L-Welsh (no disrespect intended) but this year all the teams are looking very strong
Posted 13:32 02nd September 2012
jamesliveinhope says...
I have to say that, for all OBs competence as a 10, its not a position he's played regularly for about 5 years. Dare I say it, Vesty at 10 might have offered a better balance to the back line (although I don't rate him as anywhere near our first choice 10s or Barkley, we tooke Barkley out of a crucial position at 12).
The good news is that we lost a couple of those matches early on last season - 4 points away from home will be precious this year.
Posted 10:53 02nd September 2012
melkdave says...
Sounds like it was a good game,and Worcester where unlucky to lose,they are always a very gard side to beat at Sixways ,and so it was.Thought Bath had just enough to nick it ,and so it turned out to be .But i think Warriors will do pretty well this season,mid table im thinking.
Posted 00:50 02nd September 2012
Warrior7 says...
It seems we are unable to hold onto a lead, but we were clearly the better side in the first half, and even outscored Barf on tries. Just a shame about Andy Food, we really need a better fly-half. And get rid of Shaun Perry for that matter.
Posted 17:43 01st September 2012