Bath fall short in Champions Cup despite 28-47 win over Benetton Treviso

Benetton Treviso 28-47 Bath Rugby, Stadio Comunale di Monigo
Scorecard

Bath missed on the chance to make it to the play-offs in the ongoing European Champions Cup despite registering a 28-47 victory over Benetton Treviso at Stadio Comunale di Monigo on Saturday.

Their fate though was sealed following Toulon's game against Scarlets where they picked a losing bonus point which meant the French side moved to 19 points leaving Bath with 18.

Luca Sperandio put Bath behind in the 12th minute when he crossed over that was improved by Tommaso Allan. Their efforts were negated Tom Dunn replied with a try of his own three minutes later but a sin-bin to Edoardo Gori proved costly for the home side as Bath won a penalty try to increase their lead to seven points.

Matt Banahan (29'), Anthony Watson (33') and Jonathan Joseph (40') scored further tries for Bath as they went on to claim a bonus point and heading into the break, Todd Blackadder's men had a 7-35 lead.

The home side showed more intent at the start of the second half with tries from Sebastian Negri (43') and Tommaso Benvenuti (47') as they brought down the gap to 14 points.

Bath had to go back to the strength of their pack and it was another driving line-out try from new England squad member Zach Mercer on the hour mark that got the momentum back.

The final Bath try came from the old campaigner Luke Charteris, his first for seven years, as he took a line-out ball and crashed over, but there was a sting in the tail for the visitors as Monty Ioane sped over in the right corner for the bonus-point try.

As if that was not bad enough, Allan added the touchline conversion just as news of the Scarlets 30-27 win over Toulon came through.