Robshaw helps Harlequins to Bath victory in Premiership

England captain Chris Robshaw helped Harlequins to a 28-38 Aviva Premiership Rugby victory over Bath at The Rec on Saturday.

The match was Robshaw’s first since England were knocked out of the Rugby World Cup.

A brilliant Harlequins performance saw them overpower Bath.

On a sunny day in the south west, the first half was fairly close. Four penalties from Harlequins fly-half Evans was countered by a solitary Bath try from Kyle Eastmond, with George Ford also kicking eight points.

After the break, Harlequins scored 26 points through Evans and two tries from Danny Care and Dave Ward. In the second half, Bath added a penalty from Ford and two tries from Nick Auterac and Semesa Rokoduguni, with Eastmond spending ten minutes in the bin for foul play.

In a cagey start to the game, Evans opened the scoring for Quins with a neat penalty after the home side were penalised for not rolling away. Ford then replied with a penalty of his own, before Evans kicked another three points following a series of failed scrums which led to the Bath pack being punished.

Bath increased the pressure and it told when a great pass from Olly Devoto found Eastmond who went over in the corner, with Ford adding the extras from the tightest of angles.

Quins hit back after being out of the game for much of the half through two more Evans penalties. The last action of the half saw Ford reassert his sides lead with a final penalty, giving the home team a one-point lead at half time.

It was the away side who started the second half on the frontfoot. Three penalties from the boot of Evans and their opening try from scrum-half Care saw them open up a 15 point lead over Mike Ford’s men.

Quins continued their pressure, with Mike Brown denied a try by a great Rokoduguni tackle. Bath finally regained some ground with a Ford penalty, which was quickly cancelled out by Evans.

Conor O’Shea’s side could have extended their lead further, but a debut try for Tim Visser was disallowed for a forward pass.

Bath’s day got even worse when Eastmond saw yellow for a no-arms tackle.

With the man advantage, Harlequins eventually scored their second try through Ward, compiling the misery on a very lacklustre Bath team.

The home side managed to restore some pride in the dying minutes with tries from replacement prop Auterac and winger Rokoduguni.

In a game of two halves, it was the away side who left with the points.

Final Score Bath (13) 28 Harlequins (12) 38

Scorers

Bath
Tries – Eastmond, Auterac, Rokoduguni
Pen – Ford 3
Con – Ford 2
Drop –

Harlequins
Tries – Care, Ward
Pen – Evans 8
Con – Evans 2
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee :Matthew Carly (34th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Andrew Pearce and Roy Maybank.
TMO: David Sainsbury.

Teams

Bath

15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni 13 Ollie Devoto, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Niko Matawalu, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Guy Mercer, 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Dave Attwood ( c ), 4 Dominic Day, 3 David Wilson , 2 Rob Webber ,1 Max Lahiff,

Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Stuart Hooper, 20 Max Northcote-Green, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Tom Homer

Harlequins

15. Mike Brown , 14. Marland Yarde , 13. George Lowe , 12. Harry Sloan , 11. Tim Visser , 10. Nick Evans , 9. Danny Care (C), 8. Nick Easter , 7. Chris Robshaw , 6. Jack Clifford , 5. Sam Twomey, 4. James Horwill , 3. Adam Jones , 2. Joe Gray , 1. Joe Marler

Replacements: 16. Dave Ward , 17. Mark Lambert , 18. Kyle Sinckler , 19. Charlie Matthews , 20. Luke Wallace , 21. Karl Dickson , 22. Ben Botica , 23. Ollie Lindsay-Hague