Bath battle back to claim victory after
BATH overcame an early 14 point deficit – and a Pierre Bruno first half hattrick – to claim a nervy win over Zebre and move into the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.
The Somerset club had won all ten of their previous encounters against Italian sides by an average margin of 44 points.
That history withered in the Parma heat as the men in pink caught their guests cold with an early Brunoled blitz.
“We let ourselves down in that respect,” said Bath captain Josh McNally when asked about that opening salvo. “We waited a little bit to see what they brought and it cost us.”
Bruno’s first two tries – on two and nine minutes – as well as conversions from Carlo Canna, catapulted Zebre to a shock lead.
Joe Cokanasiga soon answered back with a score of his own, brushing off weak tacklers to canter home from 30 metres, but a chip and chase from Bruno, far right, on 22 minutes completed his personal milestone. When Miles Reid was sin-binned for a high tackle four minutes later, a famous upset came into focus.
Bath’s loose trio were routinely pushed back in the tackle and beaten to the breakdown.
The forecast looked grim when Sam Underhill – making his return having missed the Six Nations with a hip injury – left the field courtesy of a head collision before a quarter of the match had been played. Renato Giammariolli was winning his battle with Tualupe Faletau and if
Zebre could hold on to their advantage before the interval they had a sniff.
It wasn’t to be. Will Stuart burrowed over from close range after the hooter to bring Bath within touching distance. Though they went into the shed behind in the ledger, the visitors had wrestled momentum back on their side.
It paid dividends after the restart. Bath loosehead Beno Obano, playing his 100th game for the club, made good on his pack’s newfound dominance with a try on 45 minutes. Spencer’s nudge squared the game.
“We grew into the game,” McNally added, praising his forwards for rescuing the cause. “We’d worked out that we could exploit them at the setpiece. We found that pressure point and kept going after them.”
A scrum penalty just on the hour saw Eduardo Bello sent to the bin. With Zebre’s energy levels flagging, Bath’s backs began to expand. Neat interplay in the midfield freed rookie flyhalf Orlando Bailey who floated a pass to his right where the ever-present Anthony Watson collected to score. It was just reward for Watson who looked menacing every time he touched the ball.
Zebre responded with two penalties from substitute Paolo Pescetto to reduce the margin to just a point with ten minutes to play. Unlike the Italian national team, Zebre refused to fold. But there would be no comeback.
A rolling maul from Bath’s heavies off the lineout dragged the South African import Jacques du Toit over the line for a try on debut. Spencer maintained his perfect record from the tee to give some gloss to the scoreline.