Harlequins continue impressive form with win over Bath

David Skippers
Add as a preferred source on Google

Bath’s losing run was extended to five games as Harlequins secured a deserved 28-15 Premiership victory at The Rec.

Bath director of rugby Stuart Hooper saw his team hammered 48-3 by Bristol Bears last Friday and they were again well beaten after producing a shocking first-half performance.

Harlequins backed up their impressive win at Wasps with another success thanks to tries from Alex Dombrandt, Aaron Morris and Danny Care.

Hooper must now be fearful for his job because even though Bath scored through Tom Dunn and Tom De Glanville, Harlequins never really looked like losing.

Click here for teams and scorers

Bath were forced into a late change before kick-off with Josh McNally ruled out.

Ethan Staddon came in for his first start with scrum-half Ben Spencer taking over the captaincy.

Bath fly-half Rhys Priestland and his opposite number Marcus Smith swapped early penalties, but Quins’ first try was an absolute peach.

Louis Lynagh, Mike Brown and Care were all involved in the attack.

Brown could have scored, but found Care who popped up to Dombrandt.

Smith improved the effort from underneath the posts before dancing through midfield in thrilling fashion.

He continued his fine start with a penalty to put Harlequins 13-3 up, but was then forced off with a blood injury to be replaced by James Lang who immediately kicked three points.

Harlequins were dominant. Dombrandt had a second try ruled out for Joe Marchant blocking the Bath defence from stopping him reaching for the line.

It did not stop Quins wing Morris from soon diving over despite Zach Mercer attempting to scrag him high. Smith did not return, but that did not stop his team.

Bath were awful and on a rare visit to the opposition 22, they gave away a scrum penalty.

Bath wing Semesa Rokoduguni went through a gap at the start of the second half and it looked like Hooper had handed them a rocket at the break.

Hooker Dunn went over from close range and Priestland converted, but any hope of a Bath revival was hit by Rokoduguni seeing yellow for a deliberate knock on.

Care immediately dived over to score and Josh Matavesi joined Rokoduguni in the sin bin for a high shot on the former England scrum-half as he scored. Lang converted anyway.

Going down to 13 men was never going to help Bath although they did at least stay in the fight until Rokoduguni and Matavesi returned to the field.

Harlequins pushed for a bonus-point score in the final 10 minutes and the only disappointment for them on another promising afternoon was the fact a fourth try did not arrive.

De Glanville did grab a late Bath consolation, but the conversion was missed by Tian Schoeman which meant Bath went home with nothing yet again despite incessant late pressure.

Saints see off Wasps to notch third consecutive win

Earlier, Wasps crashed to a second home defeat in succession as resurgent Northampton won 22-17 to collect a third consecutive Premiership win.

After last week’s 49-17 thumping at the hands of an impressive Harlequins, Wasps must have expected a better performance but poor decision making and ill-discipline in the first half cost them dear.

At the interval the hosts trailed 22-0 and although they were a rejuvenated side in the second half they could not claw back the substantial deficit.

Northampton’s tries came from Shaun Adendorff, Sam Matavesi and Taqele Naiyaravoro with James Grayson kicking a penalty and two conversions.

Rob Miller and Tommy Taylor scored Wasps’ tries. Jimmy Gopperth converted one with Jacob Umaga adding a penalty and a conversion.

Leicester prove too strong for Worcester

Elsewhere, Argentina hooker Julian Montoya scored two tries as Leicester bulldozed their way to a morale-boosting 41-24 victory over Worcester that was built on forward power.

Four of their five tries at Welford Road came from driving mauls the Warriors simply found no way of repelling as the Tigers picked up their third Premiership victory of the season.

Jasper Wiese also touched down twice, while Tom Youngs scored their other try and Zack Henry added 16 points after succeeding with six conversions and a two penalties.

Worcester’s wait for a first win since the opening weekend of the campaign went on. Their points came courtesy of tries from Richard Palframan, Morris Oli and Perry Humphreys while Jamie Shillcock slotted three conversions and Duncan Weir added a penalty.

Blair Cowan brace helps London Irish to beat Gloucester

In other action, a Blair Cowan double set the stage for London Irish as they squeaked past Gloucester 32-26 at the Brentford Community Stadium to move up to sixth in the Premiership.

The game got off to a flyer with four tries in the opening fifteen minutes – the hosts getting on the board inside the opening thirty seconds when Cowan scored his first try, before Henry Trinder struck back for Gloucester. Oliver Hassell-Collins soon crossed for the Exiles’ second try before Alexander Craig dotted down for the visitors.

The topsy-turvy nature to this game continued with the lead changing hands several times but London Irish held on for the win. Their other points came via second half tries from Agustin Creevy and Tom Parton while Paddy Jackson added two conversions and penalty.

Mark Atkinson also scored a five-pointer for the Cherry and Whites and Billy Twelvetrees converted all their tries.

 

Bath