Bath 38 - Harlequins 22
Saturday 2 September 2000 The Rec
Kick-off 14:15
Weather - Sunny
Attendance: 6795............................Match report:Russel Gibbs
Referee: Ed Morrison
Once more Bath recorded a maximum five-point haul as they scored four tries in over coming a plucky Harlequins outfit at the Rec. Jon Callard made one change to the side that defeated Wasps at Loftus Road the week before with England 'a' International Angus Gardiner being recalled for Gavin Thomas who dropped to the bench. Iain Balshaw was deemed fit enough to also warrant a place amongst the replacements alongside the illustrious Jeremy Guscott. Harlequins were led by Irish Hooker Keith Wood who packed down next to England legend Jason Leonard. British Lion Will Greenwood took his place behind the pack at center along with Mark Mapletoft and Paul Burke.
On a beautiful sunny day both sides made poor starts with mistakes prevalent before Bath took control with a penalty after seven minutes awarded for a Steve White - Cooper punch on Mike Catt. Jon Preston made no mistake from 25 metres out. This sparked Bath into gear and the games first try arrived after just tem minutes. The forwards led the way driving onto the Quins defense before Gardiner created space and Rob Thirlby took advantage of the overlap to cruise around behind the posts for his second of the season. Preston's conversion was a formality and Bath led 10-0. Harlequins were determined not to receive another mauling like last season and dispelled any home thoughts of such a rout with a superb spell of attacking rugby culminating in a brace of medium range penalties from fly half Paul Burke. Bath were on the back foot at this stage and made only one half chance which fell to Ben Clarke.
Unfortunately the big flanker didn't have the pace to get away from his markers and his kick ahead went dead. Quins then had a well taken try from Ben Gollings disallowed for a forward pass from Nick Burrows before Preston steadied some nerves with a close range penalty five minutes from half time. Paul Burke responded in kind a few minutes later to leave Bath 13 - 9 ahead. Importantly Andy Dawling Harlequins substitute no.8 had been sent to the sin bin immediately after Preston's successful kick and Bath exploited the man advantage to the full in first half injury time. Mike Tindall released Thirlby on a superb run down the touchline before he fed Matt Perry. Perry went close but was denied by some fierce defense but Bath had created enough momentum and drove over from close range, Captain Clarke emerging from the pack of players with the ball to be credited with the try, Preston added the extra points to leave Bath 11 points ahead at half time.

Half time: Bath Rugby 20 NEC Harlequins 9


After the break it was Harlequins who started the brighter and they narrowed the deficit three minutes into the half with a well-taken try from Will Greenwood. This sparked Bath into an immediate change, Iain Balshaw replacing Rob Thirlby and Jeremy Guscott making his first appearance since May 1999 for Mike Tindall. Guscott was involved straight away linking superbly with Matt Perry who put Adedayo Adebayo into space. Adebayo, who had a fine game, stepped inside his opponent to score in the corner. This spurred Quins again and they fought back with a 40 metre Burke penalty. Two minutes after this score Preston cancelled it out with a medium range penalty of his own to restore Bath's eleven-point cushion. This didn't deter the visitors through and Harlequins gave themselves a glimmer of hope with a second try after 63 minutes. Scrum half Richards made the break and his pace freed the pacey Gollings into space. The winger drew his marker and popped off a simple pass for Greenwood to claim his second try. This prompted Bath to make another change with Chris Horsman adding fresh legs to the pack for the hard working John Mallett, who along with David Barnes impressed. When Harlequins were then penalised for killing the ball at a ruck, Preston took full advantage of the 20-metre penalty on offer to put Bath 31-22 in front. Quins staged a desperate last surge but when Steve White - Cooper was sinbinned for a punch the game was as good as won. All that was left for Bath to claim a fourth try and therefore a valuable bonus point with two minutes remaining. From a well-worked catch and drive at a line out, Welsh number eight Nathan Thomas registered a well-taken try which his all round game deserved. Preston's conversion, taking his match tally to an impressive 18, was the icing on the cake. Quins attempted a late charge to get within seven points for a bonus of their own, a spell which saw Chris Horsman sent to the sin bin, but Bath had done just enough to claim the points.