Bath Rugby move to second with 31-20 win over Gloucester

Bath Rugby 31-20 Gloucester Rugby, Recreation Ground
Scorecard

Bath Rugby scored four tries in the final quarter as they went on to defeat Gloucester Rugby 31-20 in the 21st round of the Gallagher Premiership at Recreation Ground on Tuesday.

This is 14th win for Bath in 21 games as they are positioned second in the Gallagher Premiership table with 65 points while Gloucester are at eighth place with 41 points.

The Cherry and Whites had a lead of 3-20 until the 59th minute but Stuart Hooper's men made a stunning fightback to complete a nine-point victory.

Centre Billy Twelvetrees kicked a ninth minute penalty goal to get the visitors off the mark and as the first quarter was about to end Danny Cipriani played a pivotal role in setting Chris Harris over the line. Twelvetrees improved as Gloucester raced to a 10-point lead.

Rhys Priestland got Bath Rugby off the mark with a 23rd minute penalty kick but his effort was cancelled out with Twelvetrees' three-pointer at the stroke of half-time as the opening half ended with a 3-13 scoreline.

Twelvetrees and Priestland missed long range penalties early in the second half before Matt Banahan's try at the end of the third quarter and Twelvetrees improved it to make the scoreline 3-20.

Just as Bath looked in deep trouble, Tom Dunn scored back to back tries in the 61st and 66th minutes and Rhys Priestland kicked both the conversions to bring the gap down to three points. As Gloucester struggled, further tries from Lewis Boyce (74') and Ben Spencer (78') ensured the home side went on to win the encounter with a 31-20 margin.