TRES BELLE
BATH boss Todd Blackadder reckons his side can take down Toulon in next week’s rematch after this desperate near-miss.
Former England wing Chris Ashton nearly gifted Bath the win with a hopeless kick that handed Jonathan Joseph a try on the hour and put the visitors 20-14 up.
But replacement fly-half Anthony Belleau got Ashton out of jail with his 76th-minute score that nicked the match.
Bath have Toulon at The Rec next weekend in a match that could decide Pool Five and Blackadder insists they have nothing to fear from the three-time Euro kings.
Blackadder said: “We put Toulon under a huge amount of pressure and there are encouraging things to build on for next week.
“The boys really came here to play. We created opportunities. We put a really good game plan in and we executed them.”
Bath got on the wrong side of the ref Andy Brace and still got close to a shock. Brace refused to go to the TMO when Ma’a Nonu scored Toulon’s first when it looked like Matt Banahan had been obstructed. Blackadder added: “It would not have hurt to have a look. If the technology is there – let’s use it.”
Bath were 13-7 up at the break but conceded a sloppy score to scrum-half Alby Mathewson when Chris Cook was in the bin.
Then came Ashton’s horror show. Toulon took a quick line out in their 22, the ball ended up with Ashton behind the goal line and he tried to boot it into Row Z.
But his kick was short and sliced, bounced kindly for Jonathan Joseph and the England centre scored.
Toulon boss Fabien Galthie said: “These things do not happen in training but Chris is not a great kicker. I was surprised the ball was thrown to him.”
Ashton started at full-back and has scored 11 tries in 13 games for Toulon since his switch from Saracens. But he had a try chalked off by the TMO here and it was probably his worst match for the French since his move.
But Belleau got him out of jail with his try with a chip and chase that left Bath heading home with a losing bonus point. Kiwi Blackadder will be after more than that next Saturday.