Bath late-show earns bonus

By Graeme Mair  

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Heineken Cup, Recreation Ground, Saturday October 29

Bath ran in three late tries to beat Bourgoin 39-12 at the Recreation Ground and make it two wins from two in pool five of the Heineken Cup.

The home side's late flurry of points, 23 in the final quarter-of-an-hour, ensured Bath also collected a valuable bonus point.

The visitors were without French international lock Pascal Pape and captain Julien Bonnaire, and although their makeshift pack competed admirably, they were well beaten by the end.

The first half was a disjointed affair with both teams content to exchange penalties via the boot of Olly Barkley and Alexandre Peclier.

Bourgoin's midfield was continually penalised for drifting offside. Aftre half-an-hour, with the score at 9-9, referee Nigel Owens sin-binned centre Jean-Francois Coux for that offence.

Bath took advantage of the numerical advantage when Lee Best sent captain Steve Borthwick in for the opening try.

Barkley's conversion gave Bath a 16-9 interval advantage despite having played the first half into a strong wind.

Bath enjoyed the majority of the possession during the early stages of the second period but prop Matt Stevens wasted a good chance when failing to spot an overlap.

Another Barkley penalty after 66 minutes restored a seven point advantage for Bath and acted as the catalyst for a further scoring spree.

Bath's second try came as a result of recycling the ball quickly from a series of rucks - Stevens eventually crashing over to finish off the move.

Stevens' try appeared to finally break Bourgoin's resistance and there were further scores for James Hudson and Danny Grewcock.

Hudson finished off a Michael Lipman inspired attack, while Grewcock's late try ensured the bonus point.

When the Heineken Cup reconvenes in December, Bath face home and away fixtures with Glasgow. Two wins would almost certainly gain them a quarter-final berth.

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