Bath overpower Bristol to reach Premiership final

Gallagher Premiership play-off semi-final

Bath: (6) 34

Tries: Hill, Cokanasiga, Muir, Ojomoh Cons: Russell 4 Pens: Russell 2

Bristol: (13) 20

Bath booked a place in their second consecutive Premiership final coming from behind to win a pulsating play-off semi-final against neighbours Bristol.

The Bears took a slender first-half lead through two AJ MacGinty penalties sandwiched between an excellent try from James Dun, as two Finn Russell penalties were all Bath put on the board.

But Bath moved in front early in the second half with Ted Hill and Joe Cokanasiga tries turning the tide, before Will Muir and Max Ojomoh’s scores opened up a gap that the Bears could never overcome, despite Benhard Janse van Rensburg pulling a score back.

Bath, who finished 11 points clear at the top of the table, remain in the hunt for a treble having already won the Premiership Rugby Cup and European Challenge Cup.

The hosts secured a home semi-final with three rounds still to play and rested all of their first-choice players against Saracens a week ago, the same day Bristol’s play-off fate was confirmed.

The Bears conceded they were underdogs coming into the match yet had the upper hand in terms of head-to-heads, having won five of their past six Premiership meetings.

If there was any psychological advantage to be had, they tried to seize it early on.

Bristol stuck first through MacGinty’s penalty and as they have all season looked threatening whenever they quickly moved the ball.

Dun ran in next to the posts for a breathtaking try that began five metres out of Bath’s try-line after the hosts kicked the ball deep into Bristol territory.

Kalaveti Ravouvou won the foot race with Muir, collected the ball and made 40 metres solo, skipping through one tackle and bouncing off another.

Janse van Rensburg’s clear-out opened space for Ellis Genge to pass to Bath-born Dun to make it 10-0.

Indiscipline has been a constant issue however for the Bears and they were needlessly on the backfoot as Ravouvou tripped Ben Spencer and was sent to the sin-bin, to allow Russell to kick their first three points.

Bristol were dealt a blow when scrum-half Harry Randall left the field before half-time with a shoulder injury, potentially jeopardising his chances of featuring for England this summer.

Russell’s second penalty was matched by another from MacGinty to give the visitors a 13-6 lead at the break.

Bath’s strength in depth has been a huge mark of difference this season and they came out for the second half looking like they had a point to prove, as they won a penalty almost straight from kick-off and Hill went on to run in on the overlap to draw Bath level.

At the other end the Bath flanker sprinted back to produce a try-saving tackle to deny Ravouvou, before Tom de Glanville kicked through for Cokanasiga to collect and dive over and put Bath in the lead.

While Bath’s forwards were held out as they drove forward from a line-out, Bristol could not stop Muir scoring their third try in 14 minutes as they switched the direction of play.

And when Bristol’s replacement scrum-half Kieran Marmion was also shown yellow for an infringement at the breakdown – forcing winger Gabriel Ibitoye temporarily to move to nine – it was not long before Ojomoh stretched over for the hosts’ fourth try to push them 21 points clear.

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Ojomoh, Redpath, Muir; Russell, Spencer (c); Obano, Dunn, Stuart, Roux, Ewels, Hill, Pepper, Barbeary.

Replacements: Annett, Van Wyk, Du Toit, Molony, Reid, Carr-Smith, Donoghue, Bayliss.

Bristol: Heward; Ravouvou, Janse sVan Rensburg, Williams, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Randall; Genge, Oghre, Kloska, Dun, Batley, Luatua, Harding (c), Mata.

Replacements: Thacker, Woolmore, Lahiff, Rubiolo, Grondola, Marmion, Byrne, Bates.

Sin bin: Ravouvou (23 mins), Marmion (57 mins)