Stuart Hooper still unhappy despite improved Bath display
Although his team delivered an improved performance in their 40-23 defeat to Leicester Tigers at Welford Road, Bath boss Stuart Hooper is still unhappy with his players.
Tigers fly-half George Ford became the first player in the Premiership to score 100 points this season – after finishing with a 25-point haul – and in doing so helped Leicester to their eighth successive victory and consolidated their position at the top of the standings.
Still winless
Meanwhile, Bath are yet to secure a victory and their latest defeat was their seventh one in a row which leaves them firmly rooted to the bottom of the table.
Matt Scott, Nic Dolly, Tom Cowan-Dickie and Ford scored tries for Leicester with Ford adding four penalties and four conversions.
Max Clark and Josh McNally scored Bath’s tries with Danny Cipriani converting both and kicking three penalties but they still came away with nothing from a whole-hearted effort.
Hooper said: “We start the game by giving away five penalties so we are immediately on the back foot.
“We then get right back in the game at 23-20 but ill-discipline and wrong choices result in us giving away another 17 points.
“Premiership rugby is all about little key moments and we could have won out there tonight. We didn’t but at the very least we should have got a bonus point. However we shot ourselves in the foot and came away with nothing.
“We have two weeks off now from league rugby so we should be able to carry out a decent review and ask a few questions but losing from week to week is a tough place to be.”
Leicester flanker Tommy Reffell strengthened his case for a call-up to the Welsh national squad with a man-of-the-match display which saw him make 17 tackles and win four turnovers.
Reffell said: “Every time they come here they give us a hell of a game so all week we have been focusing on how we can undo them.
“Fair play to them, they were awesome tonight but when we look back at the game we will probably be disappointed with ourselves.
“Bath beat us in the kick battle in the first half when we thought there was five or 10 per cent more in us so we needed to tidy up our set-piece, which we did after the interval.”
Despite Leicester extending their lead at the top of the Premiership to 13 points, their head coach Steve Borthwick believed his side were not at their best.
He said: “Bath put us under a lot of pressure and we conceded too many penalties to give them field position and try-scoring opportunities so we weren’t at our best tonight.
“We found a way to get a win and overall I’m pleased at the progress we are making.
“We are indebted to George (Ford) as he is a world-class player who has a great influence on all who are playing around him. He is fit and sharp after recovering from injury and is producing outstanding displays.”
‘Front-row duo show England’s diversity’ – Eddie Jones
Meanwhile, England head coach Eddie Jones believes front-rowers Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler are the standard bearers for the diversity evident in the current England side.
Sinckler, who hails from south London, had a hard upbringing and took up rugby instead of joining a gang while Genge has Dyspraxia, a developmental coordination disorder, and was raised on a tough council estate in Bristol.
Of black and mixed raced heritage, the duo, who were given their Test debuts in 2016 by Jones, will be England’s starting props in their Autumn Nations Series Test with Tonga at Twickenham on Saturday.
And Jones wants the duo to continue challenging rugby’s elitist image.