Rugby
Finn Russell helps hosts go top
| Gallagher Premiership |
|---|
| Bath (8) 25 |
| Tries: Cokanasiga 2, Stooke, Reid Con: Russell Pen: Russell |
| Harlequins (5) 17 |
| Tries: Smith, Walker, Chisholm Con: Smith |
Scotland stand-off Finn Russell edged out England counterpart Marcus Smith as Bath went top of the Premiership with a bonus-point win over Harlequins.
Home winger Joe Cokanasiga scored two tries, the first of them after barely a minute, quickly levelled by Smith.
But Russell’s penalty edged Bath ahead at the break, aided by a man advantage from Danny Care’s yellow card.
Elliott Stooke, Cokanasiga and Miles Reid then added second-half scores to secure Bath their key fourth try.
That try bonus point in the swirling wind and rain at the Rec edged them above Sale to be top of the table at Christmas.
Jack Walker and James Chisholm scored second-half tries for Quins, but Smith hit the post with a last-minute conversion attempt that would have earned the visitors a losing bonus point.
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Bath took the lead when Will Muir leapt high to tap back Ben Spencer’s lofted kick, Russell somehow found space on the right to release Ollie Lawrence and Cokanasiga was on his shoulder to steam through Tyrone Green’s attempted tackle.
After Russell’s conversion attempt went wide, Smith then danced through the home defence to score at the other end, although he hooked his kick against a post.
Max Ojomoh then went over on the left seven minutes before the break but referee Luke Pearce disallowed the try, bringing play back and yellow-carding Care for falling on the tackled player and awarding a penalty which Russell kicked.
Bath made their man advantage count at the start of the second half with a catch-and-drive try by lock forward Stooke.
It went unconverted but, despite Care’s return to the field, the hosts moved 20-5 ahead when Cokanasiga steamrollered over Smith’s attempted tackle. allowing Russell to land his first conversion of the game.
Smith’s penalty to the corner led to a catch-and-drive try for Bath old boy Walker, Smith converting to make it 20-12.
But Bath regained the upper hand and, after his attempted drop-goal hit the post, Russell’s inch-perfect tactical kick then set up a line-out in the corner, from which Reid’s try stretched his side’s lead to 25-12 with six minutes left.
Chisholm’s last-minute score came too late to count, when Smith again hooked his conversion attempt against the post to leave Quins sixth in the table, six points behind new leaders Bath.
Who’s next?
Bath have eight days before their next game, at Leicester on New Year’s Eve.
Harlequins host Gloucester at Twickenham next Saturday before facing bottom club Newcastle away on Friday 5 January.
Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan:
“It makes Christmas a lot more enjoyable, but the most important thing is that the people of Bath are smiling and I’d like to think we gave them a good performance.
“It was like two heavyweight boxers, each punching back. That’s what makes the Premiership really special. There are so many good teams and games are so close.
“Joe Cokanasiga was very disappointed not to go to the World Cup. But there has been some very good communication from Steve Borthwick and the England team about what he needs to work on.
“Aerially he has improved so much. I keep saying to him that he’s the biggest winger I’ve ever coached – and I’ve been fortunate to coach some good and very fast wingers. His size is something he can use so much. And he used it. Those finishes… the one down in the left corner, he literally ran over three guys and still had the power to finish.”
Harlequins director of rugby Billy Millard:
“The kicking game, the aerial battle in that weather, was always going to be a big part of it and they did it very well. Because of that, we had to work really hard.
“It’s definitely a long stretch, but there are no excuses. We had a good week, we freshened up and, as I said, it was just execution stuff around that aerial battle in the conditions.
“We then started taking some high balls and we did get back into the game. But they did some amazing 50:22s that fell their way.
“When we had those big wins against Sale and Racing we didn’t get too high. And when you drop a game you can’t get too low. There were definitely some learnings there. The next fortnight is going to be important in keeping our position among the leading contenders.”
Bath: Gallagher; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Ojomoh, Muir; Russell, Spencer; Obano, Annett, du Toit, Stooke, Ewels, van Velze, Reid, Barbeary.
Replacements: Dunn, Schoeman, Stuart, Roux, Coetzee, Schreuder, Bailey, Redpath.
Harlequins: T Green; David, Joseph, Esterhuizen, Lynagh; Smith, Care; Marler, Walker, Collier, Launchbury, Lewies, Cunningham-South, Chisholm, Dombrandt.
Replacements: Riley, Baxter, Lewis, Herbst, Hammond, W Evans, Porter, Beard.
Sin-bin: Care (33)
Referee: Luke Pearce.
— Reports /TrainViral/