Bath 32-12 Montpellier
BATH PICKED UP a comprehensive win at the Recreation Ground over Montpellier in the Champions Cup tonight but unlike last week, they were able to capitalise on their dominance and convert it into a bonus point win.
Before the game (and during and after) most of the hype was on Sam Burgess’ first start in rugby union and he was always interesting to watch.
In the first five minutes an offload ricocheted off his knee and into the hands of Matt Banahan for the opening try, which had to be checked by the TMO.
Burgess carried the ball well all night but his tackling still needs some work – he occasionally gets caught between wanting to annihilate people rugby league-style and wrapping them up in a conventional manner.
George Ford kicked a penalty for the home side before Bath and Banahan had their second try ten minutes later. A scintillating break from Semesa Rokoduguni was tracked by Kyle Eastmond and he offloaded to Banahan to score in the corner.
Try number three came ten minutes into the second half and once again it was Matt Banahan who finished it off.
Scrum-half Chris Cook was adjudged to have been tackled dangerously by Benoit Paillague and the TMO awarded a try while sin-binning the Montpellier player. The replay showed that Paillague was lucky to escape with a yellow for an apparent tip tackle.
Montpellier mounted a mini-comeback with tries from Alex Tulou and Mickael Ivaldi before substitute Horacio Agulla picked a gorgeous line off a Ford pass to split the Montpellier defence and seal the bonus point.
