Bath edge out Dragons
18 Jan 2009
Bath moved to the top of their pool with a narrow 15-12 victory over the Newport-Gwent Dragons.
The win for Butch James’s side sets up a showdown against French giants Toulouse, who surprisingly lost to Glasgow yesterday. Bath head the pool by one point going into the match to be played at The Rec next Sunday, knowing a win will send them into the quarter-finals of the European Cup. If they lose but claim enough bonus points they could still go through as one of two best second-placed finishers.
Lock Stuart Hooper scored a try with 15 minutes remaining that sealed the win for Bath. They had earlier opened the scoring via Kiwi Joe Maddock’s try, while James added a penalty as they led 8-0 at the break. But indiscipline set in and Hooper and Daniel Brown were yellow-carded, which allowed the Welsh side to fightback through tries from Richard Fussell and Wayne Evans.
But Hooper’s late try and a conversion from James was enough for the visitors to set up the intriguing clash.
Meanwhile the Cardiff Blues claimed a home quarter-final spot with their 16-12 away win at Gloucester. Replacement lock Bradley Davies scored the only try of the game in the final five minutes as the visitors surprised their hosts as they were down to 14 men from the 27th minute after wing Tom James was red-carded for a head-butt.
Gloucester now need other results to go their way next weekend if they hope to reach the play-offs.
Llanelli Scarlets also scored an upset with their 31-17 win over Stade Francais, which knocks the top French club out of Europe. Former Waratahs No 8 David Lyons scored for the Scarlets, while Welsh flyhalf Stephen Jones added 16 points with the boot.
13 Comments
18 Jan 2009, 18:48 pm
butch
18 Jan 2009, 18:49 pm
rules
18 Jan 2009, 18:59 pm
this time next weekend i shall be on the way back from Newlands after the stormers saracens match…about bloody time…the off seasons may be shorter then normal but hell it still feels like jail time not having the rugby to look forward to on the weekends!
18 Jan 2009, 19:05 pm
Yeah this european rugby is just not doing it for me. With the exception of watching munster play.
18 Jan 2009, 19:14 pm
#4 Wezwp: hi wez…hope we can do it this year…worried about our tight 5 depth though…heard CJ V D Linde not happy at Leinster…he would be an ideal sighning for stormers as he can pack down at 1 or 3 …but read that as Rayno Gerber leaving Bulls at end of super 14 the bulls were keen on him as well! Hope Rassie climbs in to secure c j s services,,,,and we need a classy lock as well
18 Jan 2009, 19:19 pm
#5 grant10:
Long time no see !!
18 Jan 2009, 19:20 pm
Butch looks great blonde!!
18 Jan 2009, 21:40 pm
January 18th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Come join my pool in SuperBru Super 14, the ultimate Super 14 prediction game! It’s easy – just go to the website and enter the pool code wilyever to join my pool, Keo,s S14 Night Owls.
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19 Jan 2009, 00:00 am
#8 superBul: ok, I have registered, let me know what to do.
19 Jan 2009, 03:18 am
Dagse all, how many more sleeps till S14?
19 Jan 2009, 03:21 am
Too many. Howzit koos
19 Jan 2009, 03:29 am
#11 CoachPete:
Howzit Coach! Still summer, we should not be wishing the time away, still some cricket to watch and a few days at the beach before I start annoying the rest of the family…
19 Jan 2009, 03:30 am
#11 CoachPete: You ready to welcome your new President tomorrow/Tuesday? I see they spending a small fortune on the party…is it $140m or something like that?
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