Treviso had only won on the road four times in 19 European Cup campaigns, the last time at the Dragons, a side with a record in the tournament almost as undistinguished as their own. They duly lost again, but even a few grains of belief harvested by winning would have been enough to embarrass Bath, who spent much of the evening tackling.
Treviso, who started with 13 full Italy internationals, dominated the match in terms of possession and territory, and won the penalty count handsomely in the opening half thanks to their dominance up front, where the visitors had a Ferrari. They required one behind, however, where, on the occasions the ball was given width, they were exposed for pace.
The England head coach, Eddie Jones, was among the spectators. He saw the flanker Sam Underhill make a break before departing with a head injury and Jonathan Joseph find space in the opening period, and the early gains were made by Bath, who played at too quick a pace for their opponents, who wilfully conceded penalties at the breakdown.
Josh Lewis, making his first start for Bath since joining from Ebbw Vale in the summer, kicked two to put the home side six points up in as many minutes, but when the match turned from loose to tight, Treviso grew in comfort. The game stagnated into a series of scrums around the Bath line after Sebastian Negri’s second line-break of the half saw Robert Barbieri held up centimetres short by Aled Brew and Taulupe Faletau.
It was an early example of Treviso’s capacity for finding ways of not scoring. They seemed intent on rumbling a scrum over the opposition line, each penalty they received for their opponents’ collapsing turned into another set-piece. Bath were fortunate to avoid conceding a penalty try, although given the chances they spurned could it ever have been said in this match that Treviso would probably have scored a try?
Bath did, though, lose their prop Nick Auterac to the sinbin. Treviso, with the scrums continuing to go down rather than forward, decided to move the ball wide. Ian McKinley’s long pass gave Tommaso Benvenuti the room to score on the left wing, but Semesa Rokoduguni, not known for his defence, knocked the ball out of his opposite number’s grasp as both dived at right-angles to each other.
Rokoduguni, fed by Joseph, prompted a break-out one minute from the interval and Chris Cook’s pass set free Zach Mercer, one of the players looking to catch Jones’s eye, for a try that would have appeared on an indictment as grand larceny. The slick play was a lesson for Treviso, who missed a penalty when McKinley lined up from 30 metres following the unsuccessful series of scrums.
When the Italian team did find their way over through Robert Barbieri, Giorgio Bronzini’s pass to the No8 was ruled forward on a night when at all other times that offence seemed to have been removed from the statute book. Little was going for them but Treviso stuck at it, willing if not able.
Bath extended their 13-0 interval lead through Lewis’s third penalty after the outside-half profited from Bronzini’s and McKinley’s fumbling to fly-kick his way to the Treviso posts where he was caught by Benvenuti. The Italian side continued to hog the ball but it was as if they had been introduced to a stranger and become tongue-tied.
Brew showed them how with a 30-metre break from a lineout with 10 minutes to go. Jones had gone by then, probably never to see Treviso in this tournament again.
