Bath see off Wasps

Bath claimed a hard-fought 25-9 victory over Wasps in Round Five of Premiership action at Ricoh Arena on Sunday.

It was a cagey opening half as both sides sought each other out.

Wasps’ Jimmy Gopperth and Bath’s Rhys Priestland shared 18 points between them, three penalties from Gopperth and two penalties and a drop goal from Priestland.

Gopperth gave Wasps a sixth-minute 3-0 lead before he and opposite number Priestland exchanged further penalties on the 12th and 13th minute respectively.

Priestland then produced a wonderful drop goal to give his side a brief 9-6 lead but Gopperth’s penalty goal in the 33rd minute levelled matters at the break.

Another penalty from Priestland followed by a second from his replacement Freddie Burns gave the visitors a six-point cushion at the 49-minute mark.

It was 25 minutes until the next points were scored when Burns slotted a penalty in the 74th minute.

Soon after, Semesa Rokoduguni put the game beyond doubt when he dotted down for the game’s only try. It was Jonathan Joseph who created the try as it was his expertly weighted grubber kick that was gleefully gobbled up by Rokoduguni as Bath ran out 25-9 winners.

The scorers:

For Wasps:
Pens: Gopperth 3

For Bath:
Try: Rokoduguni
Con: Burns
Pens: Priestland 3, Burns 2

Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Brendan Macken, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Thomas Young, 6 James Haskell, 5 Will Rowlands, 4 Joe Launchbury (c), 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Tom Cruse, 1 Simon McIntyre
Replacements: 16 Ashley Johnson, 17 Ben Harris, 18 Paul Doran Jones, 19 Marcus Garratt, 20 Jack Willis, 21 Craig Hampson, 22 Juan De Jongh, 23 Marcus Watson

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Max Clark, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Zach Mercer, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Charlie Ewels (c), 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 James Phillips, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Ben Tapuai

Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Roy Maybank, Adam Leal
TMO: David Rose