Dunn’s double turns tide for Bath deluge
BATH underlined their credentials as serious title contenders with a late four-try salvo to claim a bonus point at the Rec.
Stuart Hooper’s side trailed 13-3 at the break and went further behind when Matt Banahan scored against his former club.
However hooker Tom Dunn claimed two tries and was followed over the line by Lewis Boyce and Ben Spencer to grab the bonus point and Bath’s seventh win from eight matches since lockdown.
Bath are second in the table, four points clear of Wasps with one game remaining, away to Saracens. Director of rugby Stuart Hooper said: “Never in doubt – that’s probably three words I wouldn’t associate with that! It’s a huge win for our guys.
“You want to be in a position where we know we can go to Saracens, and if we get a good win there we will be in the play-offs.
“There is nothing worse than having it taken out of your own hands. That was an important part of tonight, and the five points was a big element of that.”
Bath, who had to cancel the attendance of 1,000 fans at the 11th hour, were second-best for almost an hour. With suffocating line speed and power at the ruck,
Gloucester deservedly took the lead after fly-half Lloyd Evans slipped through the defence to set-up the opening try for Chris Harris.
Banahan’s score after another blistering break, this time by Jake Polledri, had Gloucester in complete control.
But Dunn’s rolling maul try after the break injected some life into the hosts and their pack turned up the power leading to further tries from Dunn and prop Boyce which put Bath ahead for the first time at 22-20.
The bonus point try by the impressive scrum-half Spencer completed the turnaround and Rhys Priestland added his fourth conversion, to go with an earlier penalty.
Gloucester coach George Skivington said: “That was frustrating. That was 60 minutes of executing exactly what we talked about, but we are gutted to lose.
“We fell away and it was a snowball effect – we couldn’t find our way out.
“You have to take your hat off to Bath. They have momentum, and that was probably the difference.”