Bath keep hopes of cup glory on course
European semi-final place secured with win over Irish
Bath Rugby are now just two games away from their first silverware in 13 years after a 26-13 victory over London Irish in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup.
Bath now face Montpellier in the semi-final at the Rec on Saturday, May 1, kicking off under the lights at 8pm, live on BT Sport.
The club’s illustrious honours board’s last entry was back in 2007/08 when the Blue, Black and White beat Worcester Warriors 24-16. Now Stuart Hooper’s men are looking to repeat the feat with dynamic backrowers Zach Mercer and Taulupe Faletau providing the magic skills to partner the brute force of the tight five.
London Irish took the lead inside the first six minutes on Friday night with outstanding hooker Agustin
Creevy bursting off the back off a maul from a 5m lineout to power through the attempted tackle of Joe Cokanasiga who despite being the bigger man got overpowered by the low position of the Argentine international.
However two minutes later lock Josh Mcnally powered over from close range for the first of four tries from the forwards, all finished from a collective distance of about 10m.
The outstanding Will Stuart trucked over for a brace of tries at the front of a pod of Bath forwards on both occasions and could have had a hat-trick but was held up over the line in the second half.
While the finishes may have been from close range, Stuart’s first try was a wonderful coast-to-coast score from Bath with man of the match Zach Mercer breaking off the back of a scrum close to his own line before offloading to Taulupe Faletau who chipped the ball and started a foot race with Paddy Jackson. Bath regathered, spread the ball wide and touched down for the pick of the scores at The Rec.
The Exiles kept their hosts on their toes, adding a pair of penalties through Paddy Jackson to pull it back to 19-13 with 15 minutes remaining but Mercer’s late try secured the victory.
The makeshift half back pair of Ben Spencer, who kicked three conversion and banged the other into the upright, and Cam Redpath who played most of the contest out of position at fly-half after Orlando Bailey failed a HIA following a collision with Albert Tuisue, controlled the final stages to put Bath into the semi-finals.