Welsh rugby has known more encouraging St David’s Day outcomes than the one which materialised here. Twickenham will be a different ball game on Saturday but a distinguished trio of Wales internationals found victory on English soil frustratingly beyond them as Bath were beaten on their own sodden patch by their noisy neighbours for the first time since November 2006.
It was not the instant dividend Bath were looking for having recruited Rhys Webb to team up with Taulupe Faletau and Rhys Priestland in a high-profile triumvirate at 8, 9 and 10 but Bristol deserved this sweet result on the basis of their sharper finishing and resilience in the closing stages of a heavy-duty contest. In Callum Sheedy they also had a match-winning Wales-born fly‑half who ultimately outmanoevured all his bigger-name opponents.
With Dan Biggar nursing a knee problem and Priestland’s right knee strapped from the outset it may be that the Wales head coach, Wayne Pivac, will need some fresh cover for the final stages of the Six Nations. In that event it is not impossible the uncapped Sheedy’s name will enter the frame at some stage. The 24-year-old was far from the only influential Bristol performer but there will be few more artfully created tries this season than the one which helped to hoist the Bears to third in the table, a gorgeous dummy fooling the entire Bath defensive line before an inch-perfect cross kick to the unmarked Alapati Leiua and an equally precise angled conversion.
Any national coach would have admired the skills required and with a Welsh mother, an Irish father and qualified for England via residency, Sheedy is spoiled for representational choice. He has turned out for Wales’s Under-16s, Ireland’s Under-19s and England in a non-cap game against the Barbarians but, for now, is waiting to see which way the wind of fate blows.
“I’m just a Bristolian at the moment,” he said. “Whatever happens after that happens … we’ll cross that bridge if it comes.”
Wales will hope the bridge in question is the one over the Severn but Sheedy – having also represented Clifton, Dings Crusaders, Cinderford and Jersey Reds – is equally appreciative of the opportunities he has had to develop in the English Championship and national leagues.
Pivac, for his part, will simply be grateful that Faletau survived a tough contest unscathed and that Webb, who has had little game time after leaving Toulon, has been thrust into the fray having signed a four-month contract with Bath before he rejoins the Ospreys this summer. Beside a swollen River Avon, though, Bath were guilty of repeating their early season profligacy, the final try count of three to one in Bristol’s favour neatly reflecting the gap in terms of clinical finishing.
Despite operating with way more possession and territory, Bath mostly hammered fruitlessly away, lacking subtlety and, more crucially, points apart from two first-half Priestland penalties. Bristol, having received an early boost via another well-executed try by a stretching Chris Vui, moved the ball more crisply and imaginatively and may well have won by a wider margin had their lineout functioned better.
In the event it mattered not, with the Bears delivering the decisive blow at the beginning of the final quarter. Only a fine covering tackle from Tom Homer prevented Luke Morahan capitalising on the excellent Stephen Luatua’s offload but, when the ball was switched left, the replacement scrum-half Harry Randall nipped over to make it 19-6.
A Priestland midfield break did put Will Chudley over for a Bath try a couple of minutes later but the home director of rugby, Stuart Hooper, acknowledged his side had only themselves to blame. “Ultimately we weren’t clinical when we had opportunities to score and we paid the price for it,” he said.
As Bristol’s Pat Lam observed, though, this was a “statement” result for Bristol on a ground where they had been winless in the league for more than 13 years. They are well coached and increasingly tight defensively and, in Charles Piutau, have a player who continues to make metres for fun. Having already defeated Bath at Ashton Gate on the season’s opening weekend, they now look the likelier of the two sides to finish in the top four. Lose at Exeter on Saturday and Bath’s worst West Country nightmares will be complete.
