Second half blitz seals perfect start for debut for Faletau

A STUNNING second half helped Taulupe Faletau to a winning Bath debut in a convincing showing against Scarlets.

The Wales and Lions No.8, who moved to The Rec from the Dragons this summer, started alongside fellow recruit Kahn Fotuali’i while another debutant Welshman Luke Charteris was on the bench.

It was all square at 10-10 at the break after a one-man cameo from Scarlet Rhys Patchell and a try from Jeff Williams for Bath to go with a penalty from Rhys Priestland and a George Ford conversion.

But there was only one side on the field in the second half and Bath pulled away with tries from Matt Banahan, Henry Thomas and Kane PalmaNewport answering a sole effort from David Bulbring for the Scarlets.

Scarlets were quick to apply pressure from the kick-off but it was a former Scarlets man who got the first points on the board as Priestland scored a penalty for Bath after 10 minutes.

After the electric Gareth Davies put the Bath defence on the back foot, prop Henry Thomas was shown a yellow card for a side entry but Scarlets couldn’t make the most of the man advantage.

Patchell levelled the score for the home side on 33 minutes with a penalty, and swiftly followed it up by crossing the line for the first try of the game. Steff Evans chipped and gathered down the left wing, Davies collected the bobbling ball, and quick hands sent it to Patchell to run the score in.

But the lead was short-lived as minutes later Bath hit back with a try from Williams, the winger somehow finding gaps in the Scarlets defence to dance through. Ford, on for Priestland, added the conversion to get the teams back on equal terms going into the break.

Using their set-piece to great effect, Bath dominated

the second half and they took the lead they never relinquished six minutes in when Dave Attwood powered over.

Ten minutes later, and another powerful surge from the forwards saw them rumble towards the line. The surge drove them on, and Thomas grounded the ball for the try.

Scarlets took advantage of a rare error at the Bath scrum on 66 minutes, Bulbring bundling over the line after breaking from the set-piece.

Bath continued to work their way patiently up the pitch and into the opposition’s territory, and a penalty from Ford with eight minutes left to play was followed up with another superb set-piece score from replacement tighthead PalmaNewport.

Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac said: “Today’s performance was a big improvement on last week, as we’d expect, but there are still some areas that we need to work on.

“Having said that I thought we had a lot of possession in that first half and we played a lot of good footy.”