Bath needed to keep the pressure up on Northampton Saints, after they beat Exeter Chiefs earlier in the afternoon, and they did just that as the beat an injury ravaged Harlequins 48-15 at the Rec.
Bath off to a flyer
Bath started the quicker, but their first try came from their own 22, as Santiago Carreras intercepted a Harlequins pass and ran the length of the field to score under the posts after only four minutes. Finn Russell converted to make the score 7-0.
Harlequins scored their first try of the night after 12 minutes, when they won their own lineout. Chandler Cunningham-South fed Bryn Bradley off the maul and Bradley runs through Finn Russell to score. However, Marcus Smith hit the uprights with the conversion to tie the score at 7-7.
The lead was stretched again when Tom Carr-Smith gave the ball out of the ruck to Ollie Lawrence, who blasted through the gain line, and offloaded to the onrushing Carr-Smith to go over under the posts again, giving Finn Russell an easy conversion to extend the score to 14-5.
Harlequins had thought they had cut the lead again, when Alex Dombrandt went over from close range. However, it was ruled out for obstruction by Kieran Treadwell. However, Marcus Smith converted a penalty on 27 minutes to narrow the deficit to six points and 14-8.
That didn’t last long either as Carreras went over for his second of the night, again under the posts. Finn Russell ran into a tackle and offloaded to Carreras who went past three defenders to score. Another easy conversion for Finn Russell and the score became 21-8, which was how it stayed until half time.
Bath pushed on
The second half started the same way as the first half when Tom Dunn was driven over the back of a maul to score the bonus point try on 43 minutes. Finn Russell missed the conversion from out wide and the lead was up to 18 points and 26-8.
Harlequins got themselves back into the game on 47 minutes, when Guido Petti intercepted a pass, and offloaded to Kieran Treadwell, who breaks two tackles and crashes over the line, and Marcus Smith converted to cut the lead back to 11 points, and 26-15.
That just seemed to anger Bath as they didn’t let Harlequins in again. Two minutes after Treadwell went over for Quins, Ewan Richards got a short pass from Alfie Barbeary and he went over for the fifth try of the night. Russell missed his second conversion and and the score went to 31-15.
Quins injuries took their toll
Josh Bayliss came on for Tom Carr-Smith, and with pretty much his first touch of the ball, he went over in the corner for try number six on 56 minutes. Santiago Carreras took over the conversion duties, but he missed this one and the lead was up to 21 points. Then on 63 minutes, that lead became 28 points as Ollie Lawrence raked a long pass to Guy Pepper, who carried himself and his tackler over the line. Carreras converted this one, and the scoring didn’t end there. Just as the clock turned 80 minutes, Bernard van der Linde scored the eighth and final try of the night. Carreras missed the conversion to make the final score 48-15.
Bath closed the gap back to one point, and they go to Franklin Gardens for a top of the table clash with Northampton Saints. Harlequins, on the other hand, host Sale Sharks, and will need to get back to winning ways.
