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NEWACSTLE RED BULLS 14 BATH 50
The fans turned out in numbers, but there was to be no early Christmas present for Newcastle Red Bulls as Bath Rugby took all five points from Sunday’s Gallagher PREM encounter at Kingston Park.
In front of another full house of 10,210 the Red Bulls played a full part in a power-packed contest, Bath edging the first half 19-14 before flexing their muscles later on.
The hosts had got off to the ideal start – Ollie Leatherbarrow ploughing over for a try after just three minutes when a sequence of red-zone carries saw the flanker cutting against the grain from ten metres out.
Brett Connon added the extras and followed it up with a 50-22 in front of a vocal Kingston Park crowd, but the visitors got themselves off the mark on 11 minutes when they kicked a penalty to the left corner and drove hooker Dan Frost over the try-line.
Santi Carreras struck the left post with the attempted conversion to leave the Red Bulls up by two, and despite Newcastle mounting another spell of pressure in the Bath half it was the visitors who struck next.
That was on 22 minutes when Frost sped in for his second – the hooker receiving the thumbs-up from the TMO after a diagonal run to the right corner for a converted score.
Newcastle bounced straight back with a pair of penalties in Bath’s half, turning the second into seven points when Amanaki Mafi was driven over at full steam from a maul in the right corner.
Connon’s well-struck conversion put them two points to the good, but the lead did not last for long as the West Country side used a close-range tap penalty as a platform to launch Archie Griffin over the try-line from a pick and go.
Carreras added the conversion to put his side five ahead at the interval, and they stretched that margin to 12 during the early moments of the second half when Francois van Wyk scooped up a bouncing ball to barge over from close in.
Carreras converted from in front, and Newcastle’s task was made all the more difficult when Sammy Arnold was sin-binned for not rolling away after his try-saving tackle on Ewan Richards.
They made the extra man count almost instantly when centre Will Butt scored from a close-range tap penalty, Bath shipping on their all-star bench for the last 25 minutes and crossing the line again when Tom de Glanville caught a looping pass in the left corner.
Ben Spencer raced down the right and Ted Hill crossed from close range as the points kept coming from the champions in a ruthless finish, but the Red Bulls battled until the end as attention now turns to their trip to Bristol Bears on December 27.
Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Ethan Grayson (Boeta Chamberlain, 76), 14 Oli Spencer, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Sammy Arnold (Max Clark, 69), 11 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Simón Benítez Cruz; 1 Adam Brocklebank (Connor Hancock, 69), 2 George McGuigan (captain, Ollie Fletcher, 54), 3 Murray McCallum (Richard Palframan, 54), 4 Oscar Usher, 5 Seb de Chaves (Finn Baker, 65), 6 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 7 Tom Christie, 8 Amanaki Mafi (Tom Gordon, 54).
Scorers - Tries: Ollie Leatherbarrow, Amanaki Mafi. Conversions: Brett Connon 2.
Bath Rugby: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Will Butt (Cameron Redpath, 54), 11 Louie Hennessey, 10 Santi Carreras, 9 Tom Carr-Smith (Ben Spencer, 54); 1 Francois van Wyk (Beno Obano, 54), 2 Dan Frost (Tom Dunn, 54), 3 Archie Griffin (Thomas du Toit, 54), 4 Ewan Richards (Ted Hill, 54), 5 Ross Molony, 6 Josh Bayliss (Sam Underhill, 54), 7 Ethan Staddon (Alfie Barbeary, 54), 8 Miles Reid (captain).
Scorers - Tries: Dan Frost 2, Archie Griffin, Francois van Wyk, Will Butt, Tom de Glanville, Ben Spencer, Ted Hill. Conversions: Santi Carreras 5.
Referee: Hamish Smales. Attendance: 10,210.
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