Bath win seven-try romp
Bath Rugby could barely have had a better return to the Rec as they battered Scarlets 45-12 in their final Premiership warm-up game. This was no second-string side fielded by the top Welsh province, either. With the likes of Leigh Halfpenny, Jonathan Davies, Steff Evans, Rhys Patchell, Rob Evans and Samson Lee, there was plenty of international quality, but they were blown away. Wales tighthead Lee left the field to a head knock in the second minute, but his presence wouldn’t have prevented Bath’s highly impressive seven-try rout. Wearing their new kit, their ruck ball was quick and clean, they offloaded out of tackles, they drove superbly well and, for the second week running, turned over plenty of ball to thwart the Scarlets just when they thought they were on the verge of doing damage. A half-break from confident captain Rhys Priestland in the fourth minute created the first try. He offloaded to Taulupe Faletau, who found Luke Charteris in support and Scarlets couldn’t recover. Several phases later, Henry Thomas burrowed over from close range and Priestland added the extras. The hosts struggled to deal with Scarlets’ driving maul early on and a flurry of penalties saw Faletau sent to the sin bin for bringing one down. Sam Hidalgo-clyne snuck blind off a scrum and sent Patchell over for a converted try which levelled the scores. Bath were soon back on the front foot, however. After Jamie Roberts and Jackson Willison softened up the defence with some hard running, space was created wide on the left and Tom Homer sent Jack Wilson over for a try. He may have only played 51 minutes, but Dave Attwood was the standout performer on either side. He carried hard, hit hard, mauled viciously and appears to be in such good shape he barely broke a sweat in doing so. Deft hands from Thomas sent the lock crashing over for the third try and a 19-7 lead at the break. It didn’t take long for Joe Cokanasiga to make his mark; having replaced Semesa Rokoduguni at half-time. Superb hands from Zach Mercer and Willison sent the big winger racing away down the left. Patchell came across to cover and, rather than try to take him on the outside, the 20-year-old barged the fly-half out of the way – much to the 6,100 sellout crowd’s delight – and cantered over the whitewash. Freddie Burns replaced Priestland in the 45th minute but had to leave the field for an HIA 14 minutes later; having barely had a chance to show his attacking skills. With the Premiership opener at Bristol next Friday night in mind, rather than risk bringing Priestland back on, Cook re-emerged from the bench to take over at fly-half. A textbook catch and drive – Scarlets’ most potent weapon – was finished off by replacement Werner Kruger as the visitors looked to salvage some respectability. But Bath were having none of it and were ruthless in the final quarter. Michael van Vuuren shook free from a maul and extended the lead; Cook adding a superb conversion from out wide. Cokanasiga picked off an interception and finished from the halfway line before Will Chudley snuck blind from a scrum and sent academy winger Levi Davis over for his second first-team try. By this point Scarlets had had enough. Whenever they made it into Bath territory they either turned the ball over through errors, or were forced into mistakes by the energetic hosts. It was a job very well done and gave the home supporters glimpses of what the pre-season work at Farleigh House might produce in the season ahead.