Bath snatch late win at Kingsholm

Gloucester 26-30 Bath Rugby, Kingsholm

Gloucester Rugby suffered an agonising late defeat as Bath Rugby edged a dramatic West Country derby 29-26 at Kingsholm on Friday night in the Gallagher PREM.

Despite missing 14 players through injury, the Cherry & Whites produced a spirited display that went down to the final minutes.

Bath struck first through Louis Hennessey after Finn Russell launched a counter-attack from deep, linking with Santiago Carreras and Ben Spencer before Hennessey finished in the corner. Russell converted for an early 7-0 lead.

Gloucester responded quickly and with authority. After sustained pressure inside the Bath 22, Val Rapava-Ruskin powered over from close range, with George Barton converting to level the scores. The hosts continued to build momentum and took the lead when Charlie Atkinson finished a well-worked move following a line-out drive. Barton again added the extras.

Gloucester extended their advantage moments later as Atkinson broke the line and released Lewis Ludlow, who offloaded inside for Seb Atkinson to score. Barton’s conversion made it 21-7 and reflected Gloucester’s control.

Bath rallied before the break through their maul, with Dan Frost crossing, before Guy Pepper added another just before half-time to reduce the deficit to 21-19 at the interval.

Gloucester thought they had struck first after the restart, but a TMO review ruled out the try. The hosts eventually regained momentum when Afo Fasogbon forced his way over in the 51st minute after sustained pressure to secure a bonus-point try, although Barton missed the conversion making it 26-19.

Bath refused to go away. Russell scored from close range after a loose ball at the ruck, then later kicked a penalty to edge Bath back in front. Another Russell penalty in the closing minutes extended the lead to three points to make it 26-30.

Team line up:

Gloucester: Barton; Hathaway, Edwards-Giraud, S. Atkinson, Thorley; C. Atkinson, Williams (c); Rapava Ruskin, Crane, Fasogbon; Gwynne, Alemanno, Venter, Ludlow, Trenholm.

Reserves: Knowles, Knight, Gotovtsev, Jordan, Mann, Austin, Byrne, Cotgreave.

Bath: Carreras; Hennessey, Harris, Ojomoh, Muir; Russell, Spencer (c); Van Wyk, Frost, Griffin, Hill, Roux, Bayliss, Staddon, Green.

Reserves: Tuipulotu, Obano, Du Toit, Ewels, Pepper, Van der Linde, Arundell, Underhill.