This was ostensibly a showcase for current England and Wales internationals but, in unseasonably fine Coventry conditions, it was a man best known for his three-years-and-counting absence from the England team who caught the eye.
Christian Wade has just a solitary 2013 cap to his name but just 47 minutes had passed when he took Kurtley Beale’s fine pass – after Elliot Daly’s searing break had carved Bath to shreds – to seal Wasps’ bonus point and complete his hat-trick with a record-breaking 18th try 2016. With a century of tries for the same time period also racked up, as well as going through it unbeaten at home, this was a record-breaking day for the Coventry club.
The battle between second and third at times felt more like a gleeful celebration of rugby. This was a fine match, a treat for those of used to fare that can generously be described as attritional at this time of year.
Semesa Rokoduguni twice had the Wasps defence gasping in the opening five minutes. First a step off the wing took Joe Simpson out of the game and only a desperate tackle from Rob Miller to dislodge the ball kept him from scoring. Then, two minutes later, it was a break down the blindside and a kick ahead that had Thomas Young scrambling brilliantly to win a turnover penalty after Jonathan Joseph had won the race to the ball.
So of course Wasps scored first. Young, moments after his defensive heroics, reminded us why Eddie Jones made enquiries as to his eligibility for England – in vain, as he has played for Wales under-20s – with an outside break and perfect one-handed offload for Wade to scamper home for his first try in eight matches.
Perhaps Wade felt overshadowed for his opening try, because his second bordered on showboating. Once again – for the 15th time this season, in fact – Wasps scored from a lineout. The wing drifted infield near his own 10-metre line and found the first two tacklers barely worthy of such a description. The next two ended up on their backsides trying to work out which direction Wade had stepped in. The two after that ... well, they probably already knew how quick the one-cap Wasp is but he gave them a reminder nonetheless.
Perhaps it was the fact there were so many unusually slight backs on display, perhaps it was a festive spirit of goodwill, but tackling felt like an optional extra in the first half and one that neither side was in the mood to take up at that. Ross Batty found himself at the end of a counterattack triggered by Rokoduguni’s turnover and outpaced Young and Miller to strike back from the 22. Then, after a Jimmy Gopperth penalty had extended Wasps’ lead to 10, George Ford delayed his pass perfectly to send Dave Attwood through a yawning gap, with Ford’s conversion making it 17-14.
The talk around Wade will grow after his treble but Young was arguably the man of the match. After Ashley Johnson had brilliantly turned Joseph in a tackle on the Wasps’ 10-metre line, Young was almost inevitably there to rip the ball from the man on the ground and showed an eye as sharp as anyone’s to sprint through the defence and under the posts from 60 metres.
For an indication of how open this match was, look no further than the instruction that came down from Dai Young, the Wasps coach, around the 55-minute mark. The four-try bonus point was in the bag; now they had to make sure of the win. Luckily for him, the scrum was on top and Young and Nathan Hughes were ubiquitous at the breakdown and the two penalties they won within Gopperth’s range were duly slotted to take the tally to 40.
Lesser sides would have been done but Bath played their part in ensuring this was a thriller rather than a thrashing. Shortly before Gopperth’s final penalty and six minutes after replacing Wales’s Taulupe Faletau in the back row, Tom Ellis found himself at the bottom of a rolling maul from a lineout, although Ford’s kick from the touchline fell short.
Then, with 13 minutes still to play, the Australian Ben Tapuai went on an arcing run to leave Dan Robson gasping in lungfulls of dust and mark his debut with a try.
That fourth try gave Bath one bonus point of their own and this time Ford nailed his kick from out wide to leave a second within reach. Todd Blackadder, their director of rugby, will be disappointed it was not to be, but for the rest of us asking for any more would just be greedy.
