• Late penalty edges hosts to first win
Neither side had anything to play for at The Recreation Ground on Saturday and it showed. An amusing first half deteriorated into a mind-numbing second, where two of English rugby’s fallen giants attempted to outdo each other in contriving ways not to win. In the end it was entirely fitting that Rhys Priestland stepped up to kick the winning penalty after yet another innocuous offence at a scrum had invited him to the tee. Last-minute wins do not come much less inspiring than that.
This was a shame because the match had started as the sort of nothing game that might incline the teams to express themselves. With both of them hopelessly adrift of quarter-final qualification, a good crowd could look forward, at least, to studying the form of various internationals. Quickly the game became a shoot-out between back-row forwards, Welsh and English, who might hope to feature in the Six Nations.
Written by Michael Aylwin at the Recreation Ground
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/12/bath-wasps-champions-cup-match-report under the title “Rhys Priestland’s kick snatches victory for Bath from Wasps’ grasp”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
