Youngsters royally put to the sword
Magnificent Gloucester began their Premiership Rugby Cup campaign in style as they swept aside an understrength but still lacklustre Bath side 71-10 at Kingsholm in their biggest win in the rivalry’s history.
George Skivington’s men put 11 tries past their derby adversaries in a ruthless, efficient win headlined by a hat-trick for former England number eight Ben Morgan who is rolling back the years.
In fairness to Bath, the fates threw up a horrible mismatch in selections with Gloucester naming a side worthy of a Premiership match having come off a bye week and the injury-hit visitors opting to honour the competition’s tradition of being a development competition.
The result was a completely onesided massacre in front of a baying Kingsholm crowd.
Both halves told a similar story, with the home side swatting away the Blue, Black and Whites’ defensive efforts with relative ease.
The hosts opened the scoring early, as Gloucester’s pack drove over the line to allow Ben Morgan to touch it down.
The forward pressure was prolonged as a Kyle Moyle dummy caught Tom Dunn napping, allowing the full-back a clean run-in.
Despite a George Worboys penalty, followed by a stint in the bin for Gloucester second row Freddie Clarke for a tackle in the air on Nahum Merigan, Bath were unable to put their stamp on the game, as the Cherry and Whites added a third try through captain Lewis Ludlow regardless of a man-disadvantage.
The maul proved to be the battering ram best suited to cracking through Bath’s tissue paper-thin defensive wall.
For their bonus point try, George Skivington’s men utilised an overlap to send Ruan Ackermann over in the corner following some scintillating offloading, before adding yet another five-pointer as Morgan crashed over for his second of the game from close range as the halftime whistle was blown.
Gloucester came back out of the dressing room with the same intensity they had played the first half, as Andrew Davidson overpowered numerous defenders to finish under the posts with less than 90 seconds on the clock.
Morgan got his hat-trick with a try for the personal highlight reel as some lacklustre missed tackles from Merigan and full back Darren Atkins allowed the number 8 to score from 30 metres out.
Gloucester’s growingly notorious pack added quickfire brace through tries through their dominant maul with Fraser Balmain and Jack Clement touching down.
Bath at long last responded as Worboys found a hole in the defensive line to go over from short range, but the Cherry and Whites responded minutes later as Jake Morris pushed past Gabe Goss in the corner.
Clement added his second of the game as he rolled over the line following more magnificent play from the Gloucester pack at the line out for the merciful final try of the game.
Bath fielded a youthful team that would provide many academy graduates the opportunity to get some first-team minutes, so a defeat was not necessarily unexpected, but to lose by such a margin can not be excused, and the side will need to take a look at itself before welcoming Exeter Chiefs to the Rec in two weeks’ time.
Gloucester meanwhile were incredibly efficient in attack, once again flexing their muscles in the forwards.
The side also exercised complete control of territory, as the visitors barely laid a foot in the Gloucester 22 for the 80 minutes.
The victors will now also look ahead to next weekend’s Premiership Rugby Cup clash, when they will play host to Exeter Chiefs but look set to rotate in more youthful players.