Hughes is latest blow for Eddie
EDDIE JONES must be wondering if he ran over a black cat as another England back rower limped out during Bath’s victory over Wasps yesterday.
On a desperate day for the hosts, Nathan Hughes became the latest injury victim as Wasps lost their third game on the spin – their second at the previously impregnable Ricoh Arena in a fortnight.
To put the tin lid on it, they lost prop Paul Doran-Jones with a nasty-looking knee injury and have an ever-expanding casualty list.
England coach Jones is already without Billy Vunipola, his first-choice No8, for the autumn internationals and his assistant Steve Borthwick watched Hughes get taken off with a thigh injury just before half-time.
The Wasps back rower went down in the 19th minute but got back up, then went down again in the 27th minute and called it day in the 38th after his leg had been heavily strapped.
He will be checked over today but Wasps director of rugby Dai Young was only half joking when he said he was fearing the worst.
Young said: “It’s a bit early to tell but we don’t seem to have much luck on the injury front. He’s certainly a big player for us – he tried to run it off.”
Bath were all sweetness and light after a dogged performance built on defence had given them an overdue win and a leg-up to fifth in the table a week after surrendering to Newcastle.
Bath director of rugby Todd Blackadder said: “We didn’t build enough pressure with the ball but we did defensively. It was a real arm wrestle – we just made tackle after tackle.
“It was the hard work the boys put in during the week. We had a really good look at ourselves and our processes. We knew this was going to be a massive defensive challenge.”
Wasps were celebrating their 150th anniversary and club legends such as Rob Andrew, Dean Ryan and Roger Uttley were on parade on the pitch.
There was a party mood but neither team wanted to enter into the spirit of the day and served up a turgid contest. Both had lost their previous two games and the desperation to get something out of this one forced a rash of errors.
Bath suffocated the Wasps attacks at source, as they did to Leicester on the opening day of the season. Sam Underhill and Zach Mercer made 44 tackles between them.
But they did not offer much at the other end and when they did score the only try via Semesa Rokoduguni in the 77th minute, it should not have stood. Jonathan Joseph’s brilliant kick through set up his winger but scrum-half Chris Cook looked to have knocked on twice earlier in the move. Television match official David Rose had a look at the tape, along with referee Matt Carley, and decided to ignore them.
A try had not looked on at all before this.
Rhys Priestland, the Bath fly-half, landed three penalties and a drop-goal before being replaced and all of Wasps’ points came from the boot of Jimmy Gopperth.
Young said: “Confidence is a factor. The only way you get that back is by starting to put performances together. We are not penetrating the gain line.”