Some mistakes are so frustrating they can defy an analyst’s algorithm and turn a game on their own. Just after half-time, Gloucester’s scrum-half, Caolan Englefield, offered a perfect case study of the phenomenon.
The visitors travelled south for their West Country derby with Bath on the back of an eight-game losing streak in the Premiership, but were leading 10-5 at half-time. Ruan Ackermann and Zach Mercer were rampaging in the back row with the former scoring the opening try to cap a sequence that included a scrum penalty, a clean lineout and a bruising carry from close range. Bath responded with a slick try from Tom de Glanville in the corner, but stoic defence meant the Cherry and Whites were good value for their lead.
Then it happened. Less than a minute after the restart Will Muir, who played the support role in the one-two move that freed up De Glanville for his try, found himself in a tight spot on the left wing. He grubbered ahead, more in hope than design as Englefield stood to field it. Instead, he seemed to evaporate as the ball dribbled through him and Muir collected to score.
Finn Russell, mostly anonymous until then with Cameron Redpath having a stronger influence from inside-centre, slotted the conversion to nudge Bath ahead. Soon after, Gloucester held the ball up over their own line, but it was clear momentum had shifted dramatically towards the home team.
Alfie Barbeary came off the bench and began to maraud over the gainline. Then Santiago Carreras was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. Although Gloucester continued to tackle like zealots, and thrice held up a Bath carrier over their line, it was only a matter of time before the walls were breached.
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So they were on the hour mark. Joe Cokanasiga pinched an intercept and Russell spiralled a long pass down the line to Ollie Lawrence, who fed De Glanville. The full-back stepped a defender off his left foot and cantered through for his second try.
To their credit, Gloucester refused to dip their heads and continued to battle around the fringe. Support runners were in regular supply when they had the ball and they kept Bath well away from the fourth try required for a bonus point. They even had an opportunity to draw level late in the piece with two lineouts close to Bath’s line and some meaty charges mere metres away. But it was not to be.
“I thought a draw would have been a fair result if we were a bit more accurate at the very end, it is what it is,” said the Gloucester coach, George Skivington, who couldn’t hide his disappointment with the Englefield error. “But I don’t have too many complaints. The boys stuck to the plan and we did what we came to do. They put a grubber in that nutmegs our player and they score. That stuck within our mindset for 10 to 15 minutes. Once we regathered we looked good again. From my point of view, we’re playing good rugby.”
Bath, league leaders just a fortnight ago, move into third in the Premiership table behind Harlequins on points difference. “Tonight’s game was in the bigger scheme of things and very important,” said the club’s head of rugby, Johann van Graan, who was already talking about next weekend’s Champions Cup match at home against French Top 14 leaders Racing 92, the following week’s trip to Toulouse and the next league game away to Bristol.
“We’ve got a massive challenge ahead of us in the next few weeks,” Van Graan said with a degree of caution. “I don’t want to big these games up. It’s all about expectation and we as a group haven’t put out any expectation. But the Champions Cup is a competition I love. We’re just going to enjoy this week. We’ve got everything to gain from the next two weeks.”
His team will need sharpening. This was a contest won through grit and good fortune, rather than the scintillating rugby that Bath are capable of producing. Perhaps this was to be expected, having made 11 changes to the team that lost to Leicester last week.
A better team than Gloucester might have made them pay for their inaccuracies and certainly their next three opponents will not be as forgiving. What will irk Skivington is that his Gloucester team could have done the job themselves, were it not for Englefield’s intervention.
