Bath looked the dominant side in the opening half with a selection of attacks on the Gloucester try line but wasted a lot of time in the 22 and gave away penalties in plays that should have been capitalized upon.

Bath’s strongest attempt for the Gloucester line came as Nick Abendanon made a confident run. However Vainikolo stood in his way and he couldn’t get past him. Bath played the ball through the backs and made several attempts at the line until Jack Cuthbert knocked the ball on.

Play quietened down for a bit until the 22nd minute as Sam Vesty opened the scoring for Bath making the score 3-0.

Catt made a strong looking kick a few minutes later and Vainikolo was made to track back but couldn’t stop a Bath lineout insides Gloucester’s 22. Vesty lined up another penalty kick following the lineout and was lucky that the kick hit the post and went over. But Vesty was unaware that that penalty would be Bath’s last points of the match.

Gloucester made their first significant attack at the Bath line with a big drive from the forwards pack. They got it out to the backs but were turned over and Bath cleared.

With three minutes remaining, man of the match Darren Dawidiuk and the rest of the forwards pack who Bryan Redpath praised post-match, bundled over after a strong drive but Dawidiuk was the man who touched the ball down. Taylor converted making the score 10-6 going into the break.

Taylor made two penalty attempts in the opening minutes of the half but scored only one. A strong Gloucester attack followed in the next few minutes but Vainikolo, who was having a disappointing game, failed to touch down for the try.

Bryan Redpath must have spurred the team on during the half time break as another strong attack on the hour mark showed Gloucester’s all round strength. They couldn’t get the ball down once again but Taylor scored a try which Bath conceded during the attack. Following his final addition to the game, Taylor made came off for Freddie Burns.

Vesty missed a penalty attempt on the 64th minute and after his substitution his replacement, Heathcote also missed.

With 3 minutes remaining, Vainikolo’s discipline slipped as he was sent off for a high tackle. Following the incident, some afters broke out and the teams came to blows but all was calm after a minute or so.

In the last minute of the game, Burns made a clearance kick inside the Gloucester 22 and chased. Sharples also chased and over took the last Bath defender to kick the ball on, collect it and dive over the line in spectacular style.

Gloucester won the match in front of almost 15,000 fans at Kingsholm by 23 points to 6. They will hope to work from this performance and do the same next weekend against London Irish.

Location: Kingsholm, Gloucester

HT Score: 10-6 (to Gloucester)

FT Score: 23-6 (to Gloucester)

MOTM: Darren Dawidiuk