Late pressure not enough to fight back

A late Bath barrage proved insufficient as they succumbed to a 19-13 defeat at home to 13-man Harlequins on Friday night.

The crowd was buzzing under the lights, but from the kick-off Bath were on the back foot as they dropped the ball for Quins to gain possession in the home half. Minutes later, after a kick clearance from Bath, Quins managed to run the ball from their own ten to the opposition’s 22 which led to a penalty-scrum.

From a Harlequins line-out at the Bath five-meter line, captain Alex Dombrandt crashed down onto the try-line to put the visitors ahead after five minutes, the try was easily converted by Allan.

Ted Hill came smashing up the pitch and was met by an offside defensive Harlequins line. The referee went back for the penalty and a fairly simple kick was easily slotted by Orlando Bailey to make it 7-3. A short while after, Quins were awarded a penalty in front of the Bath posts but instead of going for the kick, Quins went for a scrum.

Quins scored off the back of playing through the phases, with the try going to Beard, but Allan failed to convert. Quins stole another lineout inside the Bath half but the hosts managed to stop the Quins attack in front of the posts. Bailey was awarded a penalty on the Harlequins 22, but he shanked it wide before doing the same with another kick in the same spot.

There was lots of back and forth kicking, rucks and phases but neither side were able to capitalise as Harlequins comfortably led at the break.

Bath began the second half with more intent and scored inside the first two minutes, Will Butt with a beautiful dummy to dot down. Bailey managed to convert. He then sent a low kick that the Quins fullback fumbled and gave Bath a scrum in opposition territory.

Hill burst through and was stopped on the 22. Bailey had to be replaced after a head injury assessment by Piers Francis but, moments later, Quins full-back David scored after some beautiful team play to extend their advantage.

Bath won a penalty from the restart after a knock on and an offside. Francis took the penalty from 35 yards out and smashed it through the posts. Both sides continued their back and forth kicking game, testing the full-backs. Quins were awarded a penalty in front of the posts and went for a scrum which proved dominant throughout.

A huge maul from the Blue, Black and White combined with a huge kick from Gallagher pushed Quins back to their own 22. And again, nearing the end, Bath seemed to switch on, gaining momentum to find the line which was met with a disallowed try. Quins were under immense pressure and Bath were forcing mistake after mistake.

After David fumbled, Ollie Lawrence booted over a fantastic kick before Basset put in a huge slide tackle clearance to get Quins out of trouble. A Quins mistake led to a kick to touch for a line-out, the Bath maul pushed back Quins and thought they had scored a crucial try but it was deemed held up by the referee.

In a time of need, George Head was given a yellow card to give Bath a man advantage. Despite repeated penalties and another Quins yellow card, Bath were unable to make the advantage count and the visitors held up the ball to secure victory.

After the game, Ted Hill said: “After the game we were very frustrated, we started slowly we didn’t get off to a great start, it was frustrating as we had focused on that in the week, we spoke about a championship mindset.

“Our goals are to keep pushing and to win as many games as possible.”