Rugby has long been a game of contrasting styles. Festival rugby is some people’s idea of heaven; others dismiss it as akin to basketball, all frills no crunch.
Twickenham was rocking all right, but far from full for Harlequins’ latest spectacle across the road from their normal home. They played the beautiful rugby for which they are renowned, scoring five tries to delight, but Bath needed this result more and duly took it in a somewhat less frilly manner.
The visitors scored six tries, most of them meaty and prosaic. Three of them came in the last 15 minutes to take the game away from Quins and maintain Bath’s chances of making Europe. Quins’ chances of the playoffs had evaporated the night before with Northampton’s win at Newcastle.
This is Bath’s third bonus-point win in a row, hauling them into contention for that eighth spot in Europe. A win at home to Saracens on the last weekend of the regular season would put them in the mix. Undoubtedly, they started and finished as if their motivation was the purer. Quins’ was complicated by the end of their playoff hopes and they are all but sure of Champions Cup rugby next season. A bonus point at Leicester would guarantee it.
Alex Sanderson hailed his Sale players’ resolve after they booked a home tie in the Premiership playoffs with a 25-22 victory over Gloucester at Kingsholm.
“We had to dig deep to get the result,” said Sale’s rugby director, whose side face a likely appointment with Leicester on 13 May. “It’s when you are on the back foot, those chinks can become chasms but not with this group. They were just galvanised and found a way. It was a true squad performance. It is important to keep form and fitness is important as well.”
Sanderson’s team are chasing a second Premiership title 17 years. Gloucester made them fight every inch of the way, but Sale even overcame yellow cards for the England internationals Tom Curry and Manu Tuilagi as they displayed admirable spirit.
George Ford’s 64th-minute penalty repelled Gloucester’s resistance before Sam James’s breakaway effort during the closing stages confirmed the victory. The lock Jean-Luc du Preez, the No 8 Jono Ross and the replacement James scored tries for Sale, with Ford adding two penalties and two conversions, while Gloucester delivered touchdowns from Lewis Ludlow, Louis Rees-Zammit and Jonny May.
Gloucester face a West Country derby against Bristol in their final Premiership game on 6 May and the outcome could be crucial in terms of Champions Cup qualification. Gloucester’s head coach, George Skivington, said: “The boys played some good rugby against a physical Sale team. We had plenty of opportunities but it has been the story of the last couple of months and we have not finished them all off.”
Exeter tuned up for their season‑defining Champions Cup semi-final against La Rochelle next Sunday with an impressive 22-21 comeback Premiership win against Bristol, despite playing three-quarters of the match with 14 players. The downside for Chiefs is they will be heading to Bordeaux without the lock Dafydd Jenkins, who was sent off in the 17th minute for a high tackle on Max Lahiff with the game scoreless.
The hosts stayed in the fight with tries from the departing club greats Ian Whitten and Dave Ewers, and another for Josh Iosefa-Scott, to allow Joe Simmonds to land a 78th-minute penalty to seal victory. Bristol scored tries through George Kloska, Joe Jenkins and Yann Thomas.
Leinster, who face Toulouse in Saturday’s Champions Cup semi-final, paid the price of sending a weakened side to South Africa, losing 62-7 to the Bulls, their first defeat of the United Rugby Championship season. PA Media
Nevertheless, they remain the bane of any lover of consistency – and definitely of their coach. Tabai Matson was despairing. “I feel like a broken record,” he said. “Scoring five tries, and they scored six. It’s a shit result for us, a massive kick in the guts.”
The hosts were brilliant again, but undone all too easily by the visitors’ earthier approach. Bath’s tries five and six, by Joe Cokanasiga and Max Ojomoh, were a bit easier on the eye than the others. Their last was particularly fine, Ollie Lawrence sprung through a hole to send over his mate in the centre. In between, Marcus Smith had broken in brilliant style to pave the way for Alex Dombrandt’s try, which pulled Quins back to within three, but the artists were well beaten by the hod carriers with something to play for.
Quins’ world fell apart on the half-hour. It might be stretching it to describe either side as playing by then as if their lives depended on it, but two yellow cards in two minutes put a dent in the age-old imperative to win a given game. They had just wrested back a measure of control. Cadan Murley and Luke Wallace finished typically sweeping scores after Tom Dunn had opened with a try for Bath from a driven lineout.
André Esterhuizen saw the first yellow for the latest exhibition of absurdity surrounding head collisions. There was absolutely nothing he could have done when Ollie Lawrence stepped off his left foot sharply, precipitating a head collision between the two.
At least Esterhuizen’s helplessness was recognised by the downgrade from red to yellow, but the fact games are being shaped by such inevitabilities as a clash of heads tells us all we need to know about the sport’s desperate condition. Ludicrously, Esterhuizen never returned having failed a head injury assessment while he was in the bin.
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There were no complaints, though, over the second yellow a minute or so later, Murley punished for a deliberate knock-on. Bath were quick to make the most of their birthday presents. GJ van Velze finished from the pick-and-goes they set up from the penalty to the corner, but Quins defied the numbers with another brilliant score from Smith five minutes before the break.
A couple of minutes later, though, the numbers told when Orlando Bailey sent a cross-kick to Quins’ empty left wing, where Cokanasiga won the ball and sent Lawrence charging through to the line.
Bath’s two-man advantage expired early in the second half, as did their lead for a while. The ding-dong try-scoring was maintained. Lewis Gjaltema went over after a brilliant counter by Louis Lynagh to put Quins ahead as the final quarter approached. But those three Bath tries as the game drew to a close, the first by Niall Annett from another driven lineout, proved decisive.
