Another selection mismatch in the Premiership Rugby Cup saw Bristol Bears ease to a 29-0 derby victory over Bath Rugby at the Recreation Ground on Wednesday night to register their first win in the cup and end a run of three straight defeats across all competitions.
With Bristol’s game against Worcester Warriors on Saturday cancelled due to the financially stricken club’s suspension from the league, director of rugby Pat Lam named a side packed with Premiership experience, but at the same time almost to a man everyone on the away side were playing with a point to prove with competition in almost every position on the pitch to be in the visitor’s starting XV.
Injury stricken Bath in contrast face Northampton Saints at home in just three days time.
READ MORE: Bath Rugby 0-29 Bristol Bears LIVE: Reaction from the Premiership Rugby Cup
Summer arrival AJ MacGinty captained the Bears from fly-half, partnering Tom Whiteley at half back after the scrum half was hooked off after 32 minutes following a poor display in the 31-28 defeat to Gloucester on Saturday.
Welsh international Ioan Lloyd, who has been a notable absentee from the Bristol first team this season as he looks to specialise as an inside centre, was another high-profile presence in the backline, with Bath picking England star Jonathan Joseph at 13.
For all the talk of the flashy backs on both sides, with the rain pouring pre-match it was the Bristol forwards who opened the scoring, mauling over from a 5m lineout just three minutes into the contest.
After eight minutes it looked like a thrashing was on the cards at Bristol crossed in the corner for their second, with the impressive Deago Bailey running onto a flat zipped pass from Rich Lane and hopping back inside to avoid the corner-flagging defender.
It continued to be one-way traffic at the Rec with Bristol cutting through the Bath defence around the inside centre channel thanks to some intricate passing but desperate defending saved the day on a couple of occasions, with Max Wright showing his speed to reel in Thacker with the hooker putting his head down for the line from 30m out only to get tripped just short of the line.
But with the final pass hitting the deck too many times from the flashy handling, Bristol returned to their foundations to drive over with their dominant maul from a 5m lineout to hand busy Thacker his second of the night.
Five minutes after the interval, Thacker completed his hat-trick with a carbon copy catch and drive from 5m out.
Going into the final quarter, Bristol’s defence turned provider with Henry Purdy intercepting a poor pass from replacement hooker John Stewart to jet in and complete the scoring with Bath unable to trouble the scorers despite a series of late close-range drives.
Bristol now have 10 days until their next game with the cancelled fixtures against Worcester and Wasps, who have also gone into administration this week, due to cost the club close to £1m in lost revenue.
Bath Rugby : 15 Darren Atkins, 14 Will Parry, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Max Wright, 11 Gabe Goss, 10 Sam Harris, 9 Murdoch Lock; 1 Archie Stanley, 2 Tom Doughty, 3 Johannes Jonker, 4 Michael Etete, 5 Ewan Richards, 6 Tom Ellis ©, 7 Ethan Staddon, 8 JJ Tonks
Replacements: 16 John Stewart, 17 Scott Kirk, 18 Kieran Verden, 19 Wesley White, 20 Nahum Merigan, 21 Blake Boyland (guest), 22 Ciaran Donoghue, 23 Thompson Cowan
Bristol Bears: 15. Rich Lane, 14. Deago Bailey, 13. Jack Bates, 12. Ioan Lloyd, 11. Henry Purdy, 10. AJ MacGinty (c), 9. Tom Whiteley; 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. Ed Holmes, 5. Joe Batley,, 6. John Hawkins, 7. Sam Lewis, 8. Fitz Harding.
Replacements: 16. Bryan Byrne, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. George Kloska, 19. Morgan Eames, 20. Aaron Tull, 21. Oscar Lennon, 22. James Williams, 23. Harry Ascherl.
