Bath maintained their 100% start to the season as Ollie Barkley's penalty in
the final minute of normal time gave them a one-point victory over Zurich
Premiership champions Wasps.
Bath, who struggled against relegation for most of last season, have now won
the opening four matches of the new campaign.
But, after trailing for virtually the whole of the second half they came from
behind with two late penalties from Barkley who made amends for two earlier
misses.
After the kick-off was delayed for 15 minutes due to traffic problems around
the ground, Bath wasted no time as left wing Brendon Daniel struck in the sixth
minute, racing in for a try which fly-half Chris Malone converted.
But Wasps hit back a minute later with a penalty by their Kiwi fly-half Mark
Van Gisbergen who also landed the easy conversion after Simon Shaw scored the
only Wasps try in the 10th minute.
Capitalising on a spell of pressure by the powerful Wasps pack, Shaw, the
biggest surprise omission from England coach Clive Woodward's World Cup squad,
was unstoppable as he charged over between the posts.
But Daniel, who passed a fitness test before the match, restored the Bath
lead, bursting over in the left-hand corner after Malone against supplied the
pass with the Wasps defence in disarray after a kick rebounded from the posts.
Van Gisbergen's second penalty cut the Bath lead to one point before the
interval and he landed two more in the second half to seemingly put Wasps in
control as Bath paid for the penalties they conceded as they soaked up the
pressure.
Hooker Trevor Leota, who chose to play for Wasps rather than lose money going
to the World Cup with Samoa, proved a real handful but fans dug in well to turn
the tables.
They overcame the sin-binning of skipper and hooker Jonathan Humphreys, which
reduced them to 12 men, in the 51st minute when referee Robin Goodliffe ran out
of patience with yet another case of time wasting at the line-out.
But replacement hooker Lee Mears added fresh impetus to the Bath forward
effort and they elected to stick with him, rather than bring back Humphreys,
when the captain's 10-minute punishment expired.
Their refusal to capitulate brought about a late surge which paid off as it
became Wasps' turn to concede penalties under pressure.
Barkley shrugged off earlier disappointments, to make no mistake in the 72nd
and 80th minutes to ensure victory in a tense finish.
Wasps tried one final assault but Van Gisbergen was way off target with a
last-ditch long-range drop goal attempt.
Teams
Wasps: Voyce, Roiser, Waters, Erinle, Rudd, van Gisbergen,
Howley, Payne, Leota, Dowd, Shaw, Birkett, Clarke, Volley, Hart.
Replacements: Richards, Gotting, Denney, Haskell, Skivington,
Scrivener, Mackenzie.
Tries: Shaw.
Cons: van Gisbergen.
Pens: van Gisbergen 4.
Sin Bin: Shaw (80).
Bath: Perry, Best, Williams, Barkley, Daniel, Malone, Wood,
Flatman, Humphreys, Bell, Borthwick, Fidler, Beattie, Lipman,
Fea'unati.
Replacements: Martens, Mears, Stevens, Kydd, Brasher, Scaysbrook,
Gray.
Tries: Daniel 2.
Cons: Barkley 2.
Pens: Barkley 2.
Att: 7,767
Ref: Rob Goodliffe (RFU).
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