Bath 11-15 Gloucester: Visitors win West Country Premiership clash
By Charlie McFaulds
Last Updated: 05/02/16 11:17pm
James Hook kicked five penalties as Gloucester battled back in difficult conditions to beat Bath 15-11 and leap to fifth place in the Aviva Premiership.
It was Bath's sixth defeat in a row in all competitions, and leaves last season's free-scoring Premiership finalists languishing in ninth position, having lost seven of their 10 league games.
Gloucester were pummelled in one corner of the Rec for almost the entire first 15 minutes as they conceded a string of penalties at maul and scrum before referee Matthew Carley ran out of patience and he sent second row Tom Savage to the bin in the 11th minute for diving under a maul.
Bath took advantage straight away, again relying on their catch-and-drive to give Wales lock Dom Day his first try of the season, although Tom Homer was wide with the conversion, although he was successful with a penalty on 19 minutes.
The heavy drizzle and soggy conditions underfoot blunted Bath's attack but they showed impressive line-speed when Gloucester were in possession. When scrum-half Rob Cook got fingers to a pass from opposite number Willi Heinz, however, Hook knocked over the visitors' first points from 40 metres on 28 minutes.
Five minutes from half-time, the Welsh playmaker had another more difficult chance from wide out on the left but the ball fell short and was cleared by the hard-working Matt Banahan.
Hook added a second penalty from 40 metres after the break but Homer defied the elements at the other end to make the score 11-6 after 47 minutes.
Forced onto the back foot, Bath conceded two more penalties in quick succession and Hook kicked both to put his side ahead for the first time on 56 minutes.
A long rolling kick by Hook had Bath in trouble again as Horacio Agulla was caught in possession and conceded a penalty. The kick was wide out on the right, however, and faded past the post.
But Hook could not miss from in front of the posts on 65 minutes. First Alafoti Faosiliva was robbed by Matt Kvesic and then Heinz made a piercing break and Bath gave away at the breakdown.
Bath simply could not mount any meaningful pressure of their own and looked even more rudderless once skipper Stuart Hooper went off. It could have been worse, but Hook was wide with another penalty attempt.
Bath never really looked like scoring, despite their frenetic efforts in the last 10 minutes. A line-out offered a faint chance in the final seconds, but Kvesic pounced again to win a penalty at the breakdown to end all doubt and settle the West Country clash.