Gloucester ease past a youthful Bath Rugby side

Gloucester's side boasted some unfortunate RWC drops-outs looking for retribution, with Bath Rugby looking to showcase some lesser-known talents, resulting in a comfortable Cherry and White victory.

Bristol’s Memorial Stadium hasn’t played hosted to two Aviva Premiership Rugby teams since 2009 when the then titled London Wasps comfortably beat the home side Bristol Rugby at the end of a long, tough season.

Yesterday, due to Kingsholm being used for the forthcoming Rugby World Cup, Aviva Premiership Rugby returned to the venue in the form of a pre-season West County Challenge Cup match between Gloucester Rugby and Bath Rugby.

Of course these pre-season fixtures are designed to give all teams a chance to asses their summer progress and test some combinations ahead of the forthcoming season however you have to wonder whether there should be slight parameters in which they must be played? In the starting XV Gloucester Rugby fielded no less than four highly experienced internationals, three of which have British and Irish Lions experience whilst Bath’s statistic of note was that they had ten current academy members.

From the opening minutes the gulf in experience was evident, Gloucester Rugby never allowed Bath a foothold in the match, they held onto possession and quickly worked Bath into an overlap and Charlie Sharples crossed for the first his three tries. For the opening forty minutes the Cherry and Whites dominated the collisions, were inventive in attack and over powered their opponents at scrum time. As you’d expect with that trio of characteristics the visitors struggled for possession and it meant that we weren’t able to see anything from their back line. Rest assured, Bath Rugby’s youngsters never lacked for heart however what they did miss was power and size.

Heading into the second half 38 points down it was time for Mike Ford to see the character and attitude of his players in practice. Which players wouldn’t give up, in spite of a highly unfavourable scoreline? Which players would step up as leaders? Both scrum halves looked lively, Will Homer worked tirelessly during the sixty minutes that he was on the field and new signing Jonathan Evans impressed with his distribution and work rate for the final quarter. As expected Nick Auterac and Max Lahiff added some ballast at scrum time and the visitor’s sole try of the day was well earned as Rory Jennings put Max Clark through a rare gap in the home side's defensive line.

It was a comfortable afternoon for the Cherry and Whites; Charlie Sharples, James Hook and Billy Twelvetrees all went through the motions in attack, to great effect. The trio looked fresh and never needed to step out of second gear and up front the men that are experts in the dark arts, Richard Hibbard, John Afoa and Nick Wood all performed with prowess during their respected stints on the pitch. In the second half Rob Cook ignited the game from Full Back, after a long injury spell out he looks destined to reintroduced himself to the Aviva Premiership with the flair and prowess that we became accustomed to seeing. 

For Gloucester the match allowed plays and processes to be put in place and now they will build again into the return leg in two weeks time at The Rec. For Bath Rugby the match provided their first hit out after weeks spent in training and crucially, with such a small working group, they avoided any injuries. Overall though the question lingers regarding matches like this and matching like with like, Adam Hastings left school six weeks ago and his opposite number has amassed 78 caps to his name however, as Bath’s Darren Edwards philosophically stated after the game ‘they’ll do what they need to do and we will do the same’

Gloucester Rugby;  15 Steve McColl, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Bill Meakes, 11 Henry Purdy, 10 James Hook, 9 Callum Braley 1Paddy McAllister, 2 Richard Hibbard, 3 Paul Doran Jones, 4 Tom Savage, 5 Elliott Stooke, 6 Jacob Rowan, 7 Matt Kvesic, 8 Lewis Ludlow

Replacements- 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 John Afoa, 19 Tom Hicks, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Harry Randall, 22 Olly Thorley, 23 Mark Atkinson, 24 Ross Moriarty, 25 Joe Batley, 26 Mat Protheroe, 27 Rob Cook, 28 Nicky Thomas, 29 Dan Thomas, 30 Steph Reynolds

Bath Rugby; 15 Luke Arscott 14 Darren Atkins 13 Max Clark 12 Rory Jennings 11 Shaquille Jack  10 Adam Hastings  9 Will Homer 1 Beno Obano 2 Tom Dunn 3 Kane Palma-Newport 4 Charlie Ewels (C) 5 Tom Ellis 6 Sydney Blackmore 7 Max Northcote-Green 8 Zach Mercer

Replacements; 16 Tom Woolstencroft 17 Nick Auterac 18 Jack Edmondson 19 Max Lahiff 20 Matt Garvey 21 Matt Bolwell 22 Jonathan Evans 23 Alex O’Meara

Referee - Dean Richards