The Sunday Times April 24, 2022 17in the corner. Marcus Smith landed a
late penalty and that was that. Earlier,
Harlequins had started off quite bril-
liantly when Will Collier scored after a
lightning attack and later in the half,
attained another memorable try
when a pass from Smith put Cadan
Murley over in the corner.
Leicester scored their only memo-
rable try through Hanro Liebenberg
but could never take the game in
their grasp.
And the referee? At a lunch in the
week, Wayne Barnes urged the audi-
ence not to be critical of referees. So,
we decided to make the pictures big-
ger on this page to take out the space
SIMON KING/PROSPORTS/SHUTTERSTOCKThis was an amazing game in what
is turning into an incredible season.
Northampton Saints had it all to
play for after Gloucester’s loss away
to Bristol Bears put the fourth play-
off place in their hands. Yet it was
Bath, with nothing bar pride at
stake, who started like the side for
whom the match mattered.
They played a beautiful first
minute; from Will Stuart to Will
Muir, players combined to take
them from one end to the other.
Well, not quite. Bath have scored
fewer points in the first quarter of
Premiership games than any other
side. Pressure isn’t converted into
points. But this was different.
Eight minutes into the match and
Bath centre Max Clark swooped to
gather a chip and cross for a try,
only for his opposite man, Rory
Hutchinson, to kick the ball out of
his fingertips. Northampton also
had their chances as Alex Mitchell,
the scrum half, sent a 12th-minute
pass to his captain, Lewis Ludlam,
but he wasted a man outside him.
A perfectly timed delivery from
Mitchell to Matt Proctor had
Northampton finally moving the
scoreboard. But the try seemed to
sharpen Bath. In the 24th minute,
Jonathan Joseph’s chip was claimed
by Clark and this time there was no
stray boot to save Northampton.
Seven minutes later, Danny
Cipriani produced a well-timed
pass to send Muir, the left wing,
over. The conversion gave Bath a
14-7 lead that was fair enough. Muir
was a menace. He won a box-kick
that swirled in the gust, but
Joseph’s grubber lacked the
accuracy of his earlier try-assistingSaints come marching back as
Haywood scores at the death
chip. Cipriani — in contrast —
controlled the elements superbly
and Bath controlled territory.
The half was to end with another
Cipriani penalty. Bath were much
the better team and their pack were
in charge. England will be hoping
they won’t miss Courtney Lawes
half as much in Australia as
Northampton did, in what was an
underwhelming first half from the
Saints. They started the second half
with Mitchell sending Juarno
Augustus into Bath’s half. Minutes
later, the No 8 crashed over for the
perfect start to the half from
Northampton’s perspective. Not so
perfect was the missed conversion
on the part of George Furbank.
With 26 minutes remaining, the
miss was magnified as Bath and Ben
Spencer manufactured a try from a
five-metre lineout. The scrum half
kicked his conversion and moments
later was touching down. The
conversion was from the other
touchline, but equally good.
The “other” scrum half, Mitchell,
slashed through for a third try, but
it was followed by another missed
kick from the replacement fly half,James Grayson. The bonus-point try
that reduced the Bath lead to seven
meant they had two points in the
bag. Bath were clearly panicking.
The Saints lineout surged over
for a penalty try and the match was
level. At that moment, Saints had
three points, Bath had emptied
their bench, and with a yellow card
for Jaco Coetzee, were down to 13
men. In the final play, they were left
demoralised with Mike Haywood’s
winning try. The Saints had
marched back. Advantage to them
in the race for fourth place.Star man: Will Muir (Bath)
Scorers, Bath: Tries Clark (23min), Muir (31),
Spencer 2 (55, 57). Cons Cipriani 2, Spencer 2. Pen
Cipriani (40). Northampton Saints: Tries Proctor
(17), Augustus (45), Mitchell (48), Freeman (68),
penalty try (75) Haywood (80). Cons Furbank 2.
Bath: T de Glanville (J Cokanasiga 63); S
Rokoduguni, J Joseph, M Clark, W Muir; D Cipriani (O
Bailey 56), B Spencer (J Simpson 70); V Morozov (A
Cordwell 70), T Dunn, W Stuart (D Rae 65), M
Williams (E Richards 60), C Ewells, J Bayliss, M Reid
(J Coetzee 66), T Faletau.
Northampton: T Freeman (J Grayson 60); O
Sleightholme, M Proctor, R Hutchinson, T Collins (P
Francis 56); G Furbank, A Mitchell; A Waller (E
Iyogun 59), S Matavesi (M Haywood 53), P Hill, A
Coles, A Ratuniyarawa, L Ludlam (B Nansen 59, A
Moon 63), T Harrison, J Augustus.
Attendance: 13,845Stuart Barneswe would have used on criticism of
his performance.Star man André Esterhuizen (Harlequins).
Scorers: Harlequins: Tries Collier (4min), Murley
(13), Esterhuizen (75). Con Smith. Pens Smith (35,
67, 80). Leicester Tigers: Tries Nadolo (8),
Liebenberg (28), Wiese (59). Con Ford.
Pen Burns (72).
Harlequins H Jones; L Lynagh, J Marchant, A
Esterhuizen, C Murley; M Smith, D Care; J Marler
(S Kerrod 54), J Walker, W Collier (W Louw 54),
M Symons, H Tizard (J Chisholm 72), S Lewies
(G Hammond 53), L Wallace (T Lawday 55),
A Dombrandt.
Leicester F Burns; H Potter, M Moroni, M Scott
(B Hegarty 77), N Nadolo (C Ashton 60); G Ford,
B Youngs (R Wigglesworth 60); F van Wyk (E
Genge 45), C Clare (T Cowan-Dickie 77), J Heyes
(D Cole 45), C Green, E Snyman (H Wells 45),
H Liebenberg, O Robinson, S Jansen (J Wiese 45).BATH 31
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS 36
Hutchinson and Grayson celebrate Northampton’s stunning comebackarea patrolled by outside centres and
wings. The timing of the decoy runs
were good, everything was done as it
should be, but there were, and are,
too many decoys. Nobody is taking
the ball into the congested parts of
the pitch to fix opposing defenders.
Ian Whitten is a worthy warrior in
midfield but he isn’t a scary
proposition, while Tom Hendrickson
hasn’t done enough damage as a ball-
carrying inside centre. Defences are
not being fooled sufficiently often.
Sam Simmonds is another runner
who excels most in the open field.
One of the favourite cliches of the ex-
players-turned broadcasters is that a
team “has to earn the right to go
wide”. Exeter have not heeded the
warning. Joe Simmonds, the fly half,
‘We have waited and
waited for the club
to unleash their
game... but the wait
has been in vain’Wasps still believe they
can make up ground and
reach the play-offs and
this six-try bonus point
victory over Worcester
showed why they are a
team to avoid at this
crucial stage of the
season (Chris Jones
writes).
Wasps have put
together a run of eight
home victories in all
competitions while
Worcester were left to
reflect on a 22nd away
Premiership match
without a win — the worst
record in the league. LeeBlackett, the Wasps head
coach, knows his men are
eighth — six points off the
fourth play-off spot — and
said: “We have to win
every single game and
some other results are
going to have to go
our way. We have a
full squad with key
guys back.
“I was really
pleased with our
breakdown work
and the whole team
was trying to turn the
ball over.”
The first half was
bookended by a
short-range try byTom West and a well
constructed set move off
a lineout that allowed
Josh Bassett to use his
pace to get outside his
opposite number to touch
down.
Worcester finally found
the directions to the
tryline with the full-back
Harri Doel finishing off a
crisp handling move
but Wasps
responded by
cutting a huge
gap in the
defence to put
Elliott Stooke
over. Gabriel
Oghre then got
the first of his
two tries from
driving mauls
after solid lineoutwork. Worcester again
proved they could score
with Hill crashing over,
but Wasps took command
and after Oghre’s second
try Tom Willis pounced on
a Worcester error to
score. Steve Diamond,
the Worcester lead rugby
consultant, said: “We fell
apart in a couple of areas
and it looks like a cricket
score and it was a cricket
score in the end.
“But we were in the
fight for a certain time
and we will have to
rebuild in the summer.
“We are a team that
lacks confidence and we
didn’t convert the points
and don’t help ourselves
but we don’t deserve a
result like that.”BLACKETT AIMING HIGH AFTER WASPS EXTEND THEIR WINNING RUN AT HOME
didn’t benefit from being dropped
early season for Harvey Skinner.
The man who, as a goalkicking
captain, guided them to success in
2020 has yet to recover his poise.
As a result, Slade starts at No 10;
his first selection in the position since- His best rugby has been in
wider channels.
The deposed fly half, like Slade,
loves to fade out with the first step
after catching the ball. They want to
get wide and give Stuart Hogg the
ball. Who wouldn’t? Some call it
sideways rugby, others lateral. Call it
whatever you want but Slade, under
enormous pressure, must straighten
that first step if Exeter are to remain
in pole play-off position.
WASPS 41
WORCESTER 12
ON TV
Saracens v Exeter Chiefs
2.30pm ITV, Kick-off 3pmJack Willis
enjoys Wasps’
victory