For those seeking escape from wider troubles, the Rec this Friday night was the place to be – if only anyone had been allowed in. No fewer than 96 points scored, but a riot of running from start to finish. And once the dust had settled, yet another win for Wasps, yet another defeat for Bath. It is difficult to know what the significance of points are these days, so many awarded for events off the field, but the five Wasps picked up here take them into the top four of what passes for the table.
Bath, incredibly given the rate at which they opened, had to wait until the sixth minute of overtime to get their bonus-point try. Having led by 13 points early on, then 12 with half-time approaching, an eight-point defeat will hurt. But what a match they contributed towards.
The covers had been pulled over the pitch overnight, the icy grip over the UK as tight in the West Country as anywhere. The excuses for a dour slug-fest were manifold. Yet those who like to complain about the state of modern rugby were confounded yet again by another invigorating contest that melted the ice from the off.
There were 53 points in the first half alone. Rhys Priestland, in the form of his life these days, scored 24 of them on his own. Bath were awarded five penalties in the first half, and the former Wales fly-half (how long will we be describing him like that?) landed all of them.
His first contribution, though, was the game’s first try, before the third minute was out. Tom de Glanville fielded a Wasps kick on his 22, Zach Mercer broke and Priestland appeared on his shoulder, still inside the Bath half. Off he went. As he realised he had only a Wasps prop in pursuit, he cantered all the way home.
Within 10 minutes he had piled on two more penalties, before the game heated up another degree at the end of the first quarter – three tries in six minutes. A driven lineout yielded Wasps a penalty try, but two minutes later Taulupe Faletau set up Sam Underhill for the latter’s first Premiership try, after he picked a fine support line.
Two minutes later again, we had the best of the lot. Paolo Odogwu has enlivened Wasps back division this season. He was at it again, breaking from 22 to 22. He found Dan Robson in support, and when Robson found Tom Cruse, the hooker dummied and stepped as confidently as any of them to score the game’s fourth try, in the 20th minute.
Two tries apiece, but the difference was Wasps’ indiscipline, Jack Willis pinged three times at the breakdown, and Priestland’s accuracy from the tee. He opened up a 29-17 lead a few minutes short of the break with his fifth penalty, but Wasps kept themselves in the game with a close-quarter try for Brad Shields, on for Will Rowlands, on the stroke of half-time.
Another salvo of three tries in six minutes ensued, barely three minutes into the second half. Cruse developed his audition for a future in the backs with a 20-metre run, turning loose ball into another seven points. Wasps had the bonus point and, even more ridiculously, the lead.
Then, two minutes later, Bath had it back, then two minutes later again Wasps. Cameron Redpath scored Bath’s third, a step doing for Mercer, followed by a gallop to the line. No matter, Odogwu had Wasps’ fifth minutes later, taking Cruse’s inside ball off a lineout to power through Underhill, no less.
He had their sixth another six minutes later, this time a simple run-in after another attacking lineout – 45-36 to the visitors. And we hadn’t even played an hour.
The final quarter was the least eventful – just the 15 points scored – but Josh Bassett’s try, Bath’s seventh, secured them the match. Elliott Stooke’s try, with the clock well into the red and Wasps down to 14, earned Bath at least a bonus point. But the real winner, as they say, was rugby.
