Here’s Rob Kitson’s report from the Rec:
Thanks for your company, that’s yer lot from me. Come back tomorrow for the second semi between Leicester and Sale. Bye.
Updated
The was the slight whiff of an upset for a little while, but that was before Bath hammered their obvious superiority in the third quarter. Three tries and then some outstanding defensive work to hold Bristol up over the line twice put the result beyond doubt.
FULL TIME! BATH ARE IN THE PREMIERSHIP FINAL!
A brilliant second half performance sends the home side to Twickenham next week.
Updated
79 mins. A massive shove by Bath splinters the Bristol pack and wins a penalty. There will be a lineout and the game will be over soon after.
78 mins. Bath pin Bristol back in their own half with a box kick as they look to kill this. Luatua has other ideas though as he takes a carry and feeds another rampaging run from Ravouvou who once more looks terrifying right up to the point he takes the wrong option not to pass and ruins the attack.
Bath are still defending like the score matters, which is impressive at this stage.
75 mins. Finn Russell has taken a whack to the leg and he’s going off. It’s nothing serious by the look of it as he’s smiling and chirping as he limps off under his own steam
TRY! Bath 34 - 20 Bristol (Benhard Janse van Rensburg)
74 mins. Well, if anyone was going to do it from deep it was Bristol. They move it through hands before Van Rensburg gathers a loose ball to stretch to the right corner, far enough for the ball to just about touch the whitewash. The ref has a check and is happy to award it.
Conversion added.
73 mins. That little period was the end of Bristol’s barely existent hopes and now Bath are back on the ball and in the Bears’ 22. It comes to nothing, but the visitors will have to do something from deep with time slipping away.
70 mins. Another Bristol attack develops some promise as MacGinty steps through a gap and pops a short pass to Grondona who is into some open pasture, but he’s stopped dead by a blast of the ref’s whistle. The pass was forward.
This sums up the key difference in the sides this half; Bath’s conversion of attack into points has been flawless, Bristol are zero for four on 22 entries.
68 mins. The Bears will not take this lying down, even though Bath try to make them by collapsing a maul off a Bris lineout in the 22. The visitors decide to tap and go as Marmion returns to the field, and it’s a full-on rumble up to and over the line by Harry Thacker. The ref calls held up again, this time with Dunn and Reid wrapped all around the ball to prevent grounding.
65 mins. Wave upon wave of Bears forward carries have them within metres before the ball is released all the way left to Heward who can’t reach the line as he’s mobbed by Bath defenders. The forwards take over once more but Genge is held up over the line.
Updated
61 mins. The result of this game is 99.999999999999999998% certain, so Bristol will have little choice but to go Turbo Bristol, and this observer welcomes this. The start by working some carries into the Bath 22.
TRY! Bath 34 - 13 Bristol (Max Ojomoh)
59 mins. Repeated carries suck in the increasingly knackered Bears defence and Finn Russell can dance and delay his pass to Ojomoh to create the gap from 5 metres.
Another two points are added by the scots talisman.
YELLOW CARD! Kieran Marmion (Bristol)
58 mins. It’s all Bath now and on the latest entry into the 5m Marmion, who is on for the injured Randall, doesn’t roll away and is sent for 10 minutes thinking time.
Bristol are down to 14 with no recognised scrum-half on the field.
TRY! Bath 27 - 13 Bristol (Will Muir)
54 mins. The home team are back in the red zone and pummelling the Bristol line. This leads to an inevitable penalty advantage as the Bears run offside, but Russell won’t need it as he flings the ball to the left for his backline to work it all the way to Muir to dive into the corner.
Russell creams another beauty of a conversion over from way out west.
It’s very early but this feels like the match is already beyond Bristol.
Updated
50 mins. Bath look to have shaken the malaise that the Bristol sensory assault caused in the opening forty minutes and are setting about jabbing their way efficiently onto the front foot.
TRY! Bath 20 - 13 Bristol (Joe Cokanasiga)
49 mins. The ball is moved to De Glanville who is up in the 13 channel and he drives a grubber into the 22 for Cokanasiga to chase. Ravouvou looks to have covered it but a cruel bounce pings the ball back over his shoulder and into the Bath winger’s arms for a dive and stretch to score.
Russell adds two.
Updated
47 mins. The visitors send waves of runners into the Bath defence, but the longer the attack goes on the more disjointed it becomes and it fizzles out with a penalty to Bath for not releasing the ball.
45 mins. Bristol have not let this dampen their mood and it’s Ravouvou again on the run, beating two up the right touchline before Ted Hill downs him with a lungbusting recovery tackle for a big man. The ball goes loose to Spencer, but he’s isolated and can do nothing but give away a penalty for holding on.
The ball is sent to the corner and the Bears will come again.
43 mins. Great start to the half for the favourites, with Russell to the fore and a noticeable increase in zip.
TRY! Bath 13 - 13 Bristol (Ted Hill)
42 mins. Bristol gather the restart and are immediately penalised for not releasing. The ball is despatched to the corner for a quick catch and drive before Russell calls for the ball on the short side and two quick passes put Hill into the left corner.
Russell nails and impressive conversion from out wide.
Second Half!
Russell chips us back underway.
Bath change at half time: Miles Reid on for Alfie Barbeary in the back row.
“Russell keeps fizzing passes out to Cokanasiga who is always so flat he takes it standing still.” says Hamish Allen. “It’s grinding my gears at the moment.”
Bath have fallen into the obvious forcing it trap that the Bristol energy fosters and the above is a symptom of the malady.
Bath’s fans will be twitching at this point. That insidious voices inside will be whispering poisonous words about favourites who come a cropper, “Leeeeeeeeinssssssster, remember Leiiiiiiiiinster” they will be saying.
However, if they can get some consistent possession and apply their usual quality then this should still be straightforward. That is was Johann Van Graan will be saying righ now.
Pat Lam is probably just blasting “The Hotstepper” by Ini Kamoze on the changing room speaker and shout “YES LADS!” at his Bristol players for the whole of half time.
What a fabulous forty minutes of rugby union football. Loads of energy, plenty of adventure, some near scraps, a yellow card, end to end attacks aplenty – are you not entertained?
This is why don’t go out on a Friday night anymore. Why would you when this is on the telly?
Half Time!
PEEEEEEeeeeeEEEEEEeeeeeP! That’s the end of the half.
PENALTY! Bath 6 - 13 Bristol (AJ MacGinty)
40 mins. Pepper sees a flash of the ball in a Bris breakdown, but he’s penalised as the ref concludes the ruck was already formed. It’s 35 metres out and MacGinty gobbles up the three points.
Updated
PENALTY! Bath 6 - 10 Bristol (Finn Russell)
38 mins. Before all that video related controversy, Bristol were offside and Russell slots the kick.
37 mins. Ravouvou returned to the field a few mins ago and his first meaningful contribution is to hit Barbeary with something resembling a high shot on the 22. The TMO suggests Ref Ridley have a look and he decides it was chest on chest and soaked the contact, therefore no foul play.
36 mins. Van Rensburg has had a fabulous game thus far and this may have gone to his mulleted head a bit, as his latest possession around halfway sees him jinking around with little direction before flinging a flamboyantly pointless behind his back offload to the opposition.
That was absolutely peak daftness. It’s hard not to love Bristol at moments like this.
34 mins. Another Bath entry into the 22 comes to nowt after Van Rensburg clamps his hands on the ball at the ruck and wins a penalty. From the resulting lineout there’s a solid maul from the Bears and another attack is launched, working right then all the way back to the left, pulling the home defence all over and pressing their discomfort.
But it’s Bristol’s turn to be imprecise as Luatua is isolated in on the ground and loses the ball.
31 mins. Bristol have a five metre attacking lineout but as Oghre fires his throw Quinn Roux rises like the world’s most visible cat burglar to yoink the ball and ruin the platform. Bath clear, everyone breathes bit.
The yellow card is nearly over and Bris have managed to keep the points against to three, which is great work.
28 mins. Luatua rampages up the right half of the pitch before the ball is moved left for more offload magic from the Bristol forwards. They are up to within inches but the ref’s whistle blows as Dun is holding onto the ball. But it won’t be long before the visitors are back as the Russell can’t find a good touch.
26 mins. Bath are not panicking, they know there is plenty of time left and their opponents concede an average of 34 points a game. However, the home side will start to worry of they keep knocking on as they have done again here in a promising position, which allows Bristol to launch another full chaos energy turnover attack
PENALTY! Bath 3 - 10 Bristol (Finn Russell)
22 mins. Russell takes the option of getting his side off nil from the tee.
YELLOW CARD! Kalaveti Ravouvou (Bristol)
21 mins. What was I saying about discipline? The big puts a big hit in on Ojomoh who is on the 22, but the Fijian doesn’t roll away and it prevents a fast recycle with the defence disorganised.
19 mins. Bristol’s energy and intensity is outstanding, but you have to wonder how long they can keep it up for and it is also leading them to live on the edge of the discipline and they seek to harry the home side.
TRY! Bath 0 - 10 Bristol (James Dun)
18 mins. My word, this is an absolutely glorious score. Ravouvou gathers a kick in his own 22 and rus away from Muir and Ojomoh, over the top of a mismatched Spencer and feeds Mata who carries up to halfway. The ball is recycled quickly to go all the way left and after a one-handed catflap offload to Genge he finds Dun who canters through a gap and in.
MacGinty converts it.
Updated
15 mins. The game is settling into a pattern of some deliberately paced structure from Bath and Bristol looking to move the ball rapidly on turnover. The latest example of this is Mata nicking the ball on his 22 from a Bath ruck and the attack springs like lightning up the left, through multiple hands before Randall dinks it into touch.
PENALTY! Bath 0 - 3 Bristol (AJ MacGinty)
12 mins. Van Rensburg moves the ball quickly on to Williams and he moves Bristol up the right side of the field via Ravouvou. Pepper’s attempt to snaffle the ball as he scrambles back is penalised as he was off his feet at the ruck.
MacGinty wastes not time in calling for the tee and putting his side’s and the game’s fist points on the board.
9 mins. Bristol have their first bit of possession from a set play as they move left from a scrum on their own 10m line. They run a delightful pattern that sucks in the Bath blitz and allows MacGinty to float a cross-kick to Ibitoye in miles of space on the touchline. As he’s about to fully open his legs and cause trouble, De Glanville is up from fullback to ankle tap the winger over. This allows the home side to regroup and the attack fizzles out.
7 mins. Alfie Barbeary revs up for one of his trademark boom-boom carries from the drop-out return, but he slips over as he and Genge are about to come together with such force it could’ve created a singularity that would swallow the entire west country. Instead it’s a knock-on, which is probably best for all concerned.
4 mins. From the lineout the Bath forwards set to work after a big carry by Ted Hill moves them to within ten metres. The try looks inevitable but Bristol do a great job to get under the ball and hold it up over the line which will allow the Bears to kick a long drop-kick from under the posts to relieve the early pressure.
2 mins. The ball is received by the home side which they recycle and despatch to touch with 0% nonsense. On the return by Bristol, MacGinty is legally clattered by Pepper and that sparks some shoving by Genge on the Bath backrower. The ref toots his disciplinary flute and awards a penalty against the prop.
Kick Off!
AJ MacGinty boots the ball deep into Bath territory and we’re off and running
The officials for today are
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce and Anthony Woodthorpe
TMO: Andrew Jackson
It’s a lovely if breezy evening in Bath as the players head out of the tunnel into a full house.
Pre-match reading
Leicester face Sale tomorrow in the second semi, and George Ford has been mulling on the game and plenty of other things.
Chuck all your thoughts my way on the email. Can you see anything other than a Bath win?
Teams
Wholesale changes from Johan van Graan after he put out the reserves last week vs Saracens, his eyes firmly on this match.
Pat Lam makes three changes to the pack that secured the play-off berth vs Harlequins.
Bath: Tom de Glanville, Joe Cokanasiga, Max Ojomoh, Cameron Redpath, Will Muir, Finn Russell, Ben Spencer, Beno Obano, Tom Dunn, Will Stuart, Quinn Roux, Charlie Ewels, Ted Hill, Guy Pepper, Alfie Barbeary.
Replacements: Niall Annett, Francois van Wyk, Thomas du Toit, Ross Molony, Miles Reid, Josh Bayliss, Tom Carr-Smith, Ciaran Donoghue.
Bristol: Noah Heward, Kalaveti Ravouvou, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, James Williams, Gabriel Ibitoye, AJ MacGinty, Harry Randall, Ellis Genge, Gabriel Oghre, George Kloska, James Dun, Joe Batley, Steven Luatua, Fitz Harding, Viliame Mata.
Replacements: Harry Thacker, Jake Woolmore, Max Lahiff, Pedro Rubiolo, Santiago Grondona, Kieran Marmion, Harry Byrne, Jack Bates.
Preamble
It’s been a strange old season in Premiership Rugby. Each week has featured loads of tries, mostly optional defences, levels of consistency akin to starting a 12 year old Vauxhall Corsa on a winter morning – and it’s all been enormous fun.
No two teams represent the sublime vs ridiculous nature of the year in English domestic rugby more than the two battling this opening semi-final at the Rec. Bath topped the league well clear of their nearest rivals and have largely laid down a template of sense (relatively speaking) throughout the season. Their near neighbours Bristol meanwhile have spent the year defending like a 15 dogs with the zoomies; conceding an average of 34 points a game, showing an allergic reaction to sense and yet somehow find themselves in the play-offs.
All the sensible money is on a comfortable home victory here, but Bristol did win the previous meeting between the sides a few weeks ago albeit vs a weaker Bath selection.
Whatever the outcome, if this season has taught us anything it’s that it will be worth sticking around to watch it unfold.
