Layers of sophistication are being added to Bath attack
Bath Rugby are adding layers of sophistication to their attack with every week says Stuart Hooper after his side caught the eye during the 19-12 victory over Harlequins at the Rec.
A brace from winger Ruaridh Mcconnochie saw Bath hold out against Quins to secure their seventh win of the season and stay with the pack chasing for the top four.
At the midway point in the season there is just four points between sixth place London Irish and second place Northampton Saints who are quickly being reeled in by their rivals having lost three in a row, including a crushing 57-7 defeat away at league leaders Exeter Chiefs on Sunday.
In contrast Bath’s victory over Quins was the club’s third successive Premiership victory, an achievement the club haven’t managed for six seasons.
Hooper said: “I am very pleased with the win and I think a number of the lads were outstanding today. It was not the best performance, there are a number of things to work on but it’s four points.”
Despite only scoring two tries on the heavy surface at The Rec, Bath looked significantly brighter in attack, creating a number of promising opportunities throughout the game, with Josh Matavesi having a try disallowed for a forward pass.
Hooper put the improvement down to the work of his side in the week.
He said: “I think it’s credit to the players and coaches and the effort they put in to building our attack. “We’re a team who are winning but not winning incredibly well at the moment, but we are winning.”
“That’s a great platform to develop our game. We spent a lot of time on our platform and set piece, both on our ball and the opposition ball.
“That’s been consistently very good for us and now we’re working through the middle and latter part of the season putting more work into our attack and how we can score some tries. It was by no means perfect today but I saw some developments.”
Hooper has looked to instill a winning mentality to this Bath side but is insistent on not getting ahead of themselves. He said: “It’s obviously about winning and accumulating points. Do we want to score more tries? Yes we absolutely do but we don’t want to do it off the back of losing. We want to win games and score try bonus points so that will come, we will work on that, grow it and develop it.
“The effort the lads are putting in in the week is transferring to the weekend and you win the tight games. Do the work in the week and you have a chance of winning on the weekend.”
Bath Rugby winger Ruaridh Mcconnochie showed his quality with a brace to secure a 19-12 home victory for Bath over Harlequins.
Quins kept in touch throughout with tries from Alex Dombrandt and Marcus Smith, but the boot of Freddie Burns secured a vital win for the Blue, Black and Whites.
The hosts dominated the early stages as Quins were starved of any ball.
Bath made an early breakthrough in the 12th minute. Tom Ellis arched off the back of a maul from a lineout on the Quins 22 and played inside to Mcconnochie who glided past the last defender to score.
The Blue, Black and Whites continued to dominate, with Quins’ defence unable to stop them breaking from deep. Bath were able to gain territory with strong runs from Lewis Boyce and Zach Mercer which allowed Rhys Priestland to add to the score with a penalty.
However, against the run of play, Harlequins were offered a lifeline as inform Dombrandt charged down the kick of the Priestland to dot down. The weather worsened and the flow of the game began to break up and hindered Priestland’s kicking from the tee as a penalty swirled wide and short.
Bath started the final 40 how they began the first. Early pressure from a number of lineouts five metres out saw them repeatedly knock on the Quins’ door, but Gustard’s side held firm.
Bath’s Welsh fly-half had been the dominant ten in the first half but young Smith showed his quality early in the second. A looping run to release Gabriel Ibitoye down the right wing saw him receive the offload in return to beat Homer to score a classic counter-attacking try and take the lead, 12-8. Replacement Freddie Burns put the hosts back within a point with a penalty to instantly reply.
Harlequins began to comeback at Bath, however Mcconnochie produced two moments of brilliance in a matter of minutes to turn it around. First with a turnover ten metres out from his own line then, from the following lineout, Bath broke down the left and Mcconnochie glided past Ibitoye down the touchline to put Bath back in front.
With five minutes to go and the gap still four points due to a missed Burns conversion, Bath won a penalty deep in the Quins 22 after persistent pressure. Burns slotted with ease to make it 19-12 to the hosts who saw out the win with a solid defensive effort to earn a key four points.
Bath Rugby: Homer (Burns), Rokoduguni, Willison, Matavesi (Wright), Mcconnochie, Priestland, Cook, Boyce, Walker (Dunn), Judge, Mcnally, Stooke (Williams), Ellis (Bayliss), Louw (Ellis), Mercer. Subs not used: Noguera Paz, Nixon, Chudley.
Tries: Mcconnochie (2) Cons: None Pens: Priestland, Burns (2).
Harlequins: Morris, Murley (Herron), Penny, Lasike, Ibitoye, Smith, Care, Botta (Lambert), Baldwin, Kerrod, Young, Cavubati (Lamb), Chisholm, Robshaw (Evans), Dombrandt (Kunatani)
Subs not used: Musk, Swainston, Saunders.
Tries: Dombrandt, Smith Cons: Smith (2) Pens: None.
Referee: Thomas Foley.
Attendance: 14,368.
Chronicle star man: Ruaridh Mcconnochie.