Beating by the Bears comes as a painful blow for Hooper
Stuart Hooper said he is “hurting” after his side’s defeat to West Country rivals on Sunday.
The Blue, Black and Whites performed well but were unable to convert their opportunities to points on the board.
Bristol scored an early try through Chris Vui which gave them momentum and Bath were left on the back foot for the rest of the game. Rhys Priestland kicked two penalties in the first half but the hosts went into the break 6-12 down after Alapati Leiua had touch down a second for the Bears.
Harry Randall stretched the lead for the visitors, meaning a late Will Chudley try was only enough to gain a losing bonus point for the Blue, Black and Whites.
There were plenty of moments when Bath came close to scoring and this is ultimately what the Bath director of rugby was upset about.
“I’m obviously hurting,” Hooper said after the game. “Defeat at home is tough and obviously to the local rivals is even tougher. The lads put in a lot of work out there so just to get the losing bonus point is tough for them.”
Bath had plenty of penalties within kicking range but instead, they opted to go for the corner time after time to try and score a try. When asked if he was disappointed with the on-field leader’s decision not to go for the posts, Hooper said that he understood why his side continued to go for the corner.
“I think the way the game was going on the field, those decisions are ones that the boys make and they did it for a reason and actually I can see exactly why they’ve done it and gone for those decisions,” Hooper said.
“Ultimately we weren’t clinical when we had the opportunity to score. Where we have done previously, our maul or pick and go has gone over, it didn’t today and we paid the price for that.”
Coming into the game Bath had a three-match winning streak and were looking for another victory against Bristol. Instead it was the Bears who got their first win at the Rec since 2006.
“We understand why we didn’t get over the line and we understand what that means in the context of this league,” Hooper said. “It’s incredibly tight. That was a one-score game at the end and the competition is like that. It’s a reminder that you’ve got to convert and get those scores to get those points on the board to win games.
“As we worked through the week we looked building pressure on Bristol and part of that is with ball in hand and part is putting the ball behind them.
“We are looking at different ways to convert pressure and when we had opportunities close to the line we didn’t take them.”
The defeat leaves the Blue, Black and Whites in fifth place in the table with a trip to league leaders Exeter next weekend.