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Match Report: Bath Rugby 13-19 Harlequins

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match summary

On a bitterly cold evening for The Rec faithful, it was Quins who came away with a win after delivering an unrelenting attack. 

A try from Will Butt closed the gap in the second half, but magic from Cadan Murley gave Quins a six-point lead. 

Fighting to the last second, it wasn’t to be for the hosts who came away with a losing bonus point.


team news

Ben Spencer was back to captain the Blue, Black and White to take on Harlequins.

England international Joe Cokanasiga made his first start for Bath since October which saw Matt Gallagher move to fullback.

Scotland international Cameron Redpath returned to inside centre, paired alongside Ollie Lawrence. 

Dave Attwood returned to the Gallagher Premiership after featuring in the Premiership Rugby Cup last weekend following his three-week ban, and Will Spencer also returned to the Premiership coming off the bench in the second row. 

Harlequins made just one change to their XV who secured victory over Gloucester last week with Oscar Beard coming in in the number 13 jersey. 

Bath Rugby: 15 Matt Gallagher, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Butt, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Ben Spencer (c); 1 Valeriy Morozov, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 4 Dave Attwood, 5 Fergus Lee-Warner, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Miles Reid, 8 Josh Bayliss

Impact players: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Arthur Cordwell, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Will Spencer, 20 Tom Ellis, 21 Max Green, 22 Piers Francis, 23 Richard de Carpentier

Harlequins: 15 Nick David, 14 Cadan Marley, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Danny Care; 1 Joe Marler, 2 Jack Walker, 3 Wilco Louw, 4 Dino Lamb, 5 Irne Herbst, 6 Jack Kenningham, 7 Will Evans, 8 Alex Dombrandt (c)

Replacements: 16 George Head, 17 Arthur Cordwell, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 George Hammond, 20 Archie White, 21 Lewis Gjaltema, 22 Will Edwards, 23 Lennox Anyanwu


first half

Kicking off under the Friday night lights at a very chilly Rec, the game’s first scrum came in the opening minute after pressure from Bath forced a Quins knock-on. 

A strong contest from both packs allowed Ben Spencer to kick the ball downfield for Quins fullback Nick David to break through the Bath line. Earning a scrum just outside the Bath 22, it was Quins captain Alex Dombrandt who got the first score of the game under the posts after a feed from Danny Care, converted cleanly by Tommy Allan.

Bath sent the ball deep from the restart and placed themselves down in Quins 22. David cleared into the stands for Tom Dunn to take the first line out of the evening. Sweeping the ball out through the pack, Ted Hill carried hard and Quins found themselves offside. Orlando Bailey kicked Bath’s first points of the game in front of the sticks sitting the score at 3-7.

Joe Cokanasiga found himself in possession from the restart and brazenly bounced off the Quins defence, but unluckily brought down inside the 22. The slippery conditions allowed Cokanasiga’s offload to go unclaimed allowing Quins to clear their lines. 

Gifting possession back to the visitors, referee Andrew Brace blew for crossing and Bath were soon having to switch to defence mode on their five-metre line. Managing to steal the ball from the line-out but they were pulled up for knocking the ball on.

After sweeping the ball out from the scrum, the visitors were dealt huge blows from Ollie Lawrence forcing Quins to play the long game and eventually claim their second try in the 23rd minute through the hands of outside centre Oscar Beard. With Allan missing the conversion the score sat at 3-12. 

Earning two penalties through Miles Reid and Josh Bayliss turnovers, Orlando Bailey shaved both kicks just wide of the posts and Bath trailed nine points at the break after staving off Quins relentless attack in the closing minutes of the first half. 

second half 

Getting Bath off a strong second half start, Will Butt replicated some of the magic he showed against Leicester and gave Bath their first try of the evening, closing the gap to 10-12. 

Ted Hill soon gave Bath another break and charged up the field galloping towards Quins defenders. Halting Bath’s momentum and holding up Fergus Lee-Warner in tackle, there wasn’t much the lock could do to escape the sandwich tackle and Quins were given a chance to kick to touch. 

Hunting down and interception, Cameron Redpath tried to claim the ball but an unlucky bounce for Bath landed in the hands of a speedy Caden Murley who darted amongst the Bath pack to cross over for Quins’ third, converted by Allan to take the score to 10-19. 

Earning a penalty from the restart, Bailey’s HIA replacement Piers Francis brought the hosts to within half a dozen and sat Bath within losing bonus point territory.  

Putting the Bath defenders to work once again, Quins ate up much of the home territory but it was Joe Cokanasiga and Miles Reid who put a shift in at the breakdown and earned the ball back. 

With Bath safely down in Quins’ half, it was Tom Dunn’s turn to drive through the back of the maul to try and touchdown but a Quins arm under the ball ruled the try out after a check from TMO Brian MacNeice.

Bath emptied their bench as the clock ticked into the 70th minute and big Will Spencer entered the pitch for his 50th cap. 

After marching Harlequins up the field from a Redpath turnover, Bath gifted possession back to the visitors allowing another of their opportunities to go begging.  

Making the most of a loose pass from Quins, Bath’s next chance came as Lawrence booted the ball downfield forcing Quins to kick the ball into touch to eliminate the immediate threat.  

Driving the ball from the back of the maul, Bath replicated their earlier misfortune with look to the TMO to decide if the Blue, Black and White had scored their second. Not to be, Andrew Brace determined it to be another held up scenario and gave Quins the goal line drop out. 

In what looked like another piece of final minute magic, Bath gathered momentum and found themselves with a two man advantage with just 60 seconds on the clock. Trying to hammer on the Quins’ try-line, referee Brace blew after Niall Annett got caught in the tackle and it was Quins who came away with the win.  

Bath earned a losing bonus point from their efforts and will be looking to work on eradicating the unforced errors as they compete in the European Challenge Cup next week against Glasgow Warriors. 


 

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Premiership

Salakaia-Loto to leave Saints with immediate effect

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Northampton Saints today confirms that lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto will depart the Club with immediate effect.The 26-year-old second row joined the men in Black, Green and Gold ahead of the 2022/23 season from Queensland Reds.Salakaia-Loto made 24 appearances in total for Saints, scoring twice against Bristol Bears and Harlequins, both at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.“We’re disappointed to see Lukhan return home to Australia, but he made it clear that, while he has enjoyed every moment of his time as a Saint, his family have not settled so far away from home,” said Director of Rugby, Phil Dowson.

Salakaia-Loto added: “I’m leaving Saints with a heavy heart as I loved my first season representing Northampton and being part of a special group of players here.

“I believe the Club has everything in place to challenge for major silverware in the years ahead, but you have to put your family before everything else, and being on the other side of the world from the rest of our loved ones has been difficult.

“So, we’ve made the decision to return home to Australia, but I’ll always cherish the short time I had in Black, Green and Gold, and how all the Saints supporters welcomed us into this community in Northampton.

“I’m leaving some great teammates and friends, but I hope the boys can kick on again next season – and I’ll be supporting everyone at Saints from afar.”

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Premiership

Juarno Augustus signs new deal with Northampton Saints

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Northampton Saints can today confirm that Juarno Augustus has put pen to paper on a new contract with the Club.The influential South African No.8 has become a fixture in the first team at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, making 45 appearances and scoring 13 tries so far in Black, Green and Gold in the two seasons since his arrival in the summer of 2021.At 6’2” and 116kg, Augustus has proven himself to be a back row built for the physical demands of the Gallagher Premiership, demonstrating his powerful and dynamic ball-carrying ability on a regular basis for Saints.During the 2022/23 season, the 25-year-old made more metres with ball in hand than any other forward in the league, while also topping the Premiership rankings in metres made after contact.“We’re delighted to keep Juarno at the Club because of the impact he can have on matches for Northampton Saints,” said Director of Rugby, Phil Dowson.“His ball-carrying ability clearly sets him apart – statistically he is one of the very best in the league – but he has huge desire to get better across the board and is improving all the time; creating more turnovers, offloading more often both before and after contact, being stronger in defence, and jumping in our lineout as well.

Northampton Saints can today confirm that Juarno Augustus has put pen to paper on a new contract with the Club.

The influential South African No.8 has become a fixture in the first team at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, making 45 appearances and scoring 13 tries so far in Black, Green and Gold in the two seasons since his arrival in the summer of 2021.

At 6’2” and 116kg, Augustus has proven himself to be a back row built for the physical demands of the Gallagher Premiership, demonstrating his powerful and dynamic ball-carrying ability on a regular basis for Saints.

During the 2022/23 season, the 25-year-old made more metres with ball in hand than any other forward in the league, while also topping the Premiership rankings in metres made after contact.

“We’re delighted to keep Juarno at the Club because of the impact he can have on matches for Northampton Saints,” said Director of Rugby, Phil Dowson.

“His ball-carrying ability clearly sets him apart – statistically he is one of the very best in the league – but he has huge desire to get better across the board and is improving all the time; creating more turnovers, offloading more often both before and after contact, being stronger in defence, and jumping in our lineout as well.

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Premiership

Club announcement: Leigh Jones

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Leicester Tigers can confirm that General Manager Leigh Jones will depart the club in the summer.

Jones joined Tigers in May 2021 from the Hong Kong Rugby Union, where served as National Coach Development Manager and Head Coach before leading the defence and breakdown for the Japanese national team at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. He then returned to Hong Kong as Head of High Performance before taking on the role as General Manager of Rugby.

Prior to his tenure at HKRU, he held senior coaching roles with Ebbw Vale, Newport, Newport Gwent Dragons and the Welsh Rugby Union senior team, including leading the Wales ‘A’ programme under Sir Graham Henry.

Jones was the first to hold the role of General Manager at the club, which included responsibility for the off-field performance of Leicester Tigers, including overseeing the Oval Park facility, operational processes and procedures at the training ground, and driving the cultural and performance standards at all levels of the rugby programme, including the academy and senior squads.

In his time at the club, the senior squad were crowned Gallagher Premiership Champions at the conclusion of his first season, reached the quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup in successive campaigns and fell one game short of back-to-back Premiership Finals.

Meanwhile, the academy programme completed a third-place finish in this season’s Premiership Under-18 League.

Speaking about his time at the club, Jones said: “It has been an interesting and enjoyable two years, transitioning back to the UK from Hong Kong into, what was, a new format for me personally in a competition of the Premiership’s standing.”

“It’s been a pleasure and privilege to work with some great staff, players and coaches at Leicester Tigers, helping to establish what I now believe to be a truly integrated and harmonious training platform from which players and coaches can maximise potential.

“While the work that you do goes largely un-noticed, it proves very important in the daily running of the rugby platform in respect of both the ‘here and now’ and also having a keen eye on the future; introducing and maximising systems, structures and player pathways to safeguard the future of the club.

“It has been a great thrill to work closely with the coaching team, many of whom are world class operators, to advise, mentor and simply offer an opinion, when needed.

Speaking further on his tenure, he added: “The results over the two year period have been pleasing; the pinnacle, winning the Gallagher Premiership in 2022, while also reaching the knockout stages of the Premiership and European Champions Cup in two successive seasons.”

“It has also been particularly pleasing this season in how everyone pulled together following the departure of Steve [Borthwick] and Kevin [Sinfield]. Following the initial disruption, Richard Wigglesworth, Aled Walters and the coaching team have done a magnificent job in keeping things on course during what could have been a particularly hazardous period.”

“It has also been great to see a significant international representation through the age-grades, supplying seven players to England U20s for the recent Six Nations and forthcoming U20s World Championship. Because of the attention given to this specific group of players, I believe they are are now first team ready, and will be a great addition to the first team squad next year.

“I am confident Leicester Tigers is in a positive position moving into the future, having assembled a strong squad to compete in both the Premiership and European competitions, with an exciting squad including a host of world-class players and youngsters who are well prepared to make the step up.”

Looking ahead to his own future, Jones said: “I am going to take some time out for my family, including returning home to Wales, after which I will look for the next challenge to throw myself into and contribute to an organisation in the way I have enjoyed so much during this time at Leicester Tigers.”

Outgoing Leicester Tigers Interim Head Coach Richard Wigglesworth added: “Leigh has been a great source of knowledge and experience, as well as a great mentor and friend to me in my time at the club.”

“Firstly, while I was balancing playing and coaching and then, when I moved into the Head Coach role, even more so as a brilliant advisor during my first time in a role of this magnitude.

“The work of a General Manager is largely behind the scenes, ensuring that coaches and players are capable of doing the very best they can because of the thankless work that goes into all that is required and Leigh has done that, every day, of which cannot be spoken highly enough of by myself.

“I am so grateful for all that he has done for me, this club and wish him all the very best in whatever comes next, whoever is the lucky organisation to have him.”

Leicester Tigers CEO Andrea Pinchen added: “Leigh joined Leicester Tigers at a critical point in this club’s history and has, during the past two seasons, provided wonderful experience and guidance to what were a young coaching group and evolving playing squad.”

“In addition to his day-to-day roles, he has played a pivotal role in helping establish strong foundations for which Leicester Tigers can move forward into the future, confident of being competitive through his and his staff’s excellent work.

“I thank him for everything he has done and, on behalf of all at the club and wider Tigers Family, wish him the very best for what is to come.”

Content & Images from – Leicester Tigers Rugby


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