21 points from the boot of Stephen Donald were enough for Bath to tear up the form book and record a narrow 21-18 victory over Harlequins.
Bath were looking to end a run of two defeats, while Harlequins headed into the game in fine form, looking every bit capable of defending their Aviva Premiership crown.
Not a single try was scored on the night, which meant the responsibilities sat on the shoulders of the two teams' goalkickers.
A penalty goal on six minutes from Nick Evans got the ball rolling for Quins, though just over ten minutes later the scores were level courtesy of Donald's first three-pointer of the evening.
Evans' 23rd minute effort put Harlequins back in front and the score remained at 3-6 until the dying minutes of the first half, when a quickfire from brace from Donald turned the deficit on its head and handed Bath the advantage.
Defences continued to dominate throughout the second half and tactical warfare became the name of the game. And on the night there was little between the two teams, as indiscipline from both sides afforded the other the opportunity to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Donald's effort on 45 minutes put six points between the two teams, though the scores were level by the end of the third quarter courtesy of two booted responses from Evans.
Donald quickly regained the lead for his side on 63 minutes, but Evans was quick in his response to level the scores once again.
As the final ten minutes loomed it was two further Donald penalties, his sixth and seventh of the evening, that handed Bath what would turn out to be an unassailable advantage.
And though Evans responded on 75 minutes, Bath held their discipline and their defence to seal the win.
The scorers:
For Bath:
Pens: Donald 7
For Harlequins
Pens: Evans 6
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Kyle Eastmond, 13 Semesa Rokoduguni, 12 Matt Banahan, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Guy Mercer, 6 Josh Ovens, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Stuart Hooper (c), 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Charlie Beech.
Replacements: 16 Brett Sheehan, 17 Alan Cotter, 18 Kane Palma-Newport, 19 Dominic Day, 20 Ryan Caldwell, 21 Will Skuse, 22 Mark McMillan, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Harlequins: 15 Tom Williams, 14 Ugo Monye, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Sam Smith, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Karl Dickson, 8 Nick Easter (c), 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Tom Guest, 5 George Robson, 4 Olly Kohn, 3 Will Collier, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Mark Lambert.
Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Pete Browne, 20 Joe Trayfoot, 21 Jordan Burns, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Seb Stegmann.
Referee: JP Doyle
Comments
APV1 says...
@ markpat - it was a long way from perfect, but a good result none-the-less.
I'm not able to watch the boxing, but I would love to watch DG punch Justin Harrison repeatedly in the face. The way he disgraced himself was appalling. At least Matt Stevens had the decency to admit what happened and take his punishment. JH scuttled away and retired, making his admission later nonsensical.
Posted 11:53 27th November 2012
Cookiemunste says...
Good result for Bath. Can anybody tell me how the young Munster prop Alan Cotter is doing? I hear he is getting some game time.
Posted 15:16 26th November 2012
markpat says...
@APV1 - just a pity that Banahan's pass to Rokodugun after his chargedown was so terrible. A little more efficiency from Bath and they could have scored a couple of tries.
Easter played extremely well, as did Monye from the restarts.
Are you going to watch the Justin Harrison v Danny Grewcock boxing match?
Posted 14:23 26th November 2012
APV1 says...
@ jamesliveinhope - I've now seen the match and you're right. Many of the gates to The Rec were closed and some seating was unusable due to flooding.
But it was a fast a furious match from both teams. Bananaman and Bendy had great games and our defence was epic.
Posted 11:46 26th November 2012
jamesliveinhope says...
Fascinates me how the penalty doommongers always appear in November just as the weather goes squiffy.
Circumstances, regrettably left me listening to this one on the radio but it didn't sound like a slugfest (especially in the first half) but might I remind everyone that the Westcountry has been under three feet of water for about a week now, the river was lapping against the stadium door. Whilst the groundstaff must be applauded for getting a playable surface, one might be forgiven for assuming that the pitch might have been a little heavy.
Kickable penalties are scored from infringements within range of the posts, they exist to stop teams cheating to avoid conceding a try.
Posted 14:21 25th November 2012
rugbyphile says...
God knows why rugby survives--it does --and we all keep watching hoping for things to change. Get some smarter people to look at the laws--for a start the only scrum penalty where a goalkick is allowed should be when a card is awarded for the offence.
Posted 13:09 24th November 2012
NHsaints says...
@colvin actually in the old days you had to score a try and convert it to score any points...anyway teams do go out looking to score tries, Quinns showed that when dickson nearly went over from 30m out...bath's defence was just too good last night.
Posted 12:45 24th November 2012
APV1 says...
@ colvin - apparently it was a game full of attacking flair. That's why the penalties were within kicking distance.
Posted 11:42 24th November 2012
passtheball says...
As mentioned elsewhere - NH refs and their penalty obsession is becoming the norm. These pedants were all too often present in the SH Championship and killed off the games they refs as spectacles. They have little feeling for the game. This is becoming a serious problem.
Posted 08:28 24th November 2012
colvin says...
What a pity that people can't see that too many penalties and in particular penalty goals are ruining rugby. Seven goals beat six. Who would have enjoyed that?
They could have saved all the trouble and not played the game. The two goalkickers could have had a kick off, most goals wins, and then both teams could have retired to the clubrooms and had a party.
Why bother getting tired and muddy when all the players are likely to achieve for their efforts are a number of penalty goals. In the old days it used to be about scoring tries.
Posted 05:36 24th November 2012