Bath edge Harlequins in Anglo Welsh LV Cup

English West Country Bath edged Harlequins 21-23 at the Twickenham Stoop in the Anglo Welsh LV= Cup.

Late drama at The Stoop saw Rory Jennings’ penalty snatch victory for Bath over Harlequins in an entertaining contest.

Matt Banahan broke open the scoring with the game’s first try inside the opening minutes to continue his good form this season, with his score converted by Will Homer.

Brother of London Irish goalkicker Tom, who is expected to join Bath next season, the number nine’s early penalty and Banahan’s try gave Bath a 10-0 advantage after just four minutes.

Tries from Harlequins wingers Tom Williams and Charlie Walker either side of an Evans penalty however flipped the game on its head, putting the hosts up 15-10.

Homer added a second penalty before the interval to keep the contest finely poised.

Two more penalties from Evans, the second generated by a powerful Quins scrum, gave his side some necessary breathing space as Bath started to irritate referee Ben Whitehouse.

Harlequins though would be the side to lose a man to the bin; a break from Tom Ellis creating a long phase of attack short of the home side’s posts which ended in a penalty try for Bath – Quins captain Mark Lambert seeing yellow with the score at 21-20.

A crazy final few minutes saw both sides threaten, before the crucial penalty from Jennings right in front secured Bath’s first win at The Stoop since 2006.

Final Score Harlequins 21 (15) Bath 23 (13)

Scorers

Harlequins
Tries : Williams, Walker
Pen : Evans (3)
Con : Evans
Drop :

Bath
Tries : Banahan, Penalty
Pen : Homer (2), Jennings
Con : Homer (2)
Drop :

Match Official
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant referees: Jonathan Healy (England), Paul Burton (England)
Television match official: Stuart Terheege (England)
Timekeeper: Roy Marfleet (England)

Teams

Harlequins: 15 Ross Chisholm, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Tom Casson, 12 Harry Sloan, 11 Charlie Walker, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Karl Dickson, 8 James Chisholm, 7 Jack Clifford, 6 Joe Trayfoot, 5 Sam Twomey, 4 George Merrick, 3 Mark Lambert (c), 2 Rob Buchanan, 1 Darryl Marfo

Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Seb Adeniran-Olule, 18 Matt Shields, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Henry Cheeseman, 21 Jordan Burns, 22 Ben Botica, 23 Ollie Lindsay-Hague

Bath: 15 Horacio Agulla, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Max Clark, 12 Matt Banahan, 11 Richard Lane, 10 Rory Jennings, 9 Will Homer, 8 David Sisi, 7 Guy Mercer (c), 6 Alafoti Fa’osiliva, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Dominic Day, 3 Kane Palma-Newport, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Nick Auterac

Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Tom Ellis, 20 Max Northcote-Green, 21 Micky Young, 22 Peter Stringer, 23 George Wacokecoke