Pain of defeat will spur us on - Hooper
Stuart Hooper was left wondering what could have been after his side’s Gallagher Premiership season came to a crashing end with a 35-6 defeat to Exeter Chiefs on Saturday.
Having lost just one game since rugby restarted in August, Bath went to Sandy Park believing they could reach their first final in five years, but too many moments went against them playing the winning machine that is the Chiefs. The key one, which has left fans, pundits and coaches divided was the yellow card for Exeter lock Jonny Hill in the 35th minute.
Hill crossed the line twice for tries, as Chiefs touched down five times in total through Luke Cowan-dickie, Stuart Hogg and Olly Devoto, but the Bath Rugby director of rugby believes he was lucky to still be on the pitch.
Hill was given 10 minutes in the bin by referee Luke Pearce for illegally clearing out a ruck with no wrap of the arms, catching Bath number eight Taulupe Faletau on the top of the back according to the officials who looked at the incident from multiple angles on the TV with TMO Wayne Barnes weighing in.
Many watching, including Hooper, thought the first contact Hill made was with Faletau’s head and not his back, which would have deemed the offence worthy of a red card. The officials disagreed.
After the match, Hooper, inset, said: “I’m always going to see it on my side of the fence. Evidently the officials saw it on the other side and we crack on.
It was definitely foul play but it is their decision.”
That might seem a polite enough response, but from the mild mannered Hooper that is a relative blast aimed at the officials.
However, crucially Bath were unable to score a point during the period Hill was off the pitch as they failed to make the most of their opportunities throughout the high quality and bruising encounter down in Devon, In the first half winger Ruaridh Mcconnochie failed to ground the ball in the corner thanks to the the excellent covering tackle of Exeter’s Jacques Vermeu. Then prop Will Stuart had a try scrubbed off for an accidental offside in the build-up as he bumped into Sam Underhill on his way to the line, and Faletau had a pass which was intended for the well placed Rhys Priestland intercepted. Hooper said: “In the first half we did well territory wise but didn’t take our opportunities. We got a number of try scoring opportunities which we didn’t take, and we knew that was important. We knew if we get them and don’t take them then that would open the gap.” Bath had been in great form since the resumption of the Premiership after lockdown with seven wins from nine games to secure a play-off spot. The former Bath captain was pleased in the turnaround of form but feels there is still work to be done before they can fully compete with teams of Exeter calibre.
“They put in an unbelievable effort. We know it’s required at this level. We didn’t have the finesse that they did at the top end of the game. We didn’t play the ball well enough through the hands and cause them enough problems. We were committed and did our very best but at this stage it is not good enough.”
Hooper added: “This isn’t enough for this group to be stood here and say we’ve had a good journey. That’s not what we’re about. The pain of these moments is also what goes towards allowing us to come back and be on the other side of the score line.
“We’ve got to keep up the hard work we’ve done but also be proud of what they’ve done because there were not many people that gave us a sniff of making top four looking at the table pre-lockdown.”