Big Mak’s hungry for rematch
TODD BLACKADDER reckons his side can take down Toulon in next week’s rematch after this desperate near-miss.
Battling Bath were on course until Anthony Belleau nicked victory from under their noses.
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 Belleau got Ashton out of jail with his 76th-minute winner.
Bath have Toulon at The Rec next weekend in a match that could decide Pool Five and coach Blackadder insists they have nothing to fear.
Executed
He 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 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 l ooked l i ke Matt Banahan had been obstructed.
Bath were 13-7 up at the break, Anthony Watson going over, but conceded a sloppy score to scrumhalf Alby Mathewson when Chris Cook was in the bin.
Then came Ashton’s horror show. Toulon took a quick lineout in their 22, the ball ended up with Ashton behind t he goalline and he tried to boot it into Row Z.
But his kick was short and sliced – and bounced kindly for Joseph.
Ashton started at fullback and has scored 11 tries in 13 games for Toulon since his summer switch from Saracens. But he had a try chalked off by the TMO here and it was probably his worst match since his big-money move.
But Belleau spared his blushes with a chip and chase that left Bath flatfooted and heading home with a losing bonus point.