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Bath Rugby have taken themselves to the brink of quarter-final qualification - but they still have unfinished business to attend to when they welcome Agen to the Recreation Ground in Round 5. - 10/01/2013 15:23
Bath Rugby have taken themselves to the brink of quarter-final qualification – but they still have unfinished business to attend to when they welcome Agen to the Recreation Ground in Round 5.
They are the only club to have taken maximum points from their four matches, they are eight points clear of Agen and are home at the Recreation Ground for their Pool 4 contests in the New Year against the French club and Bucharest Wolves.
The 2008 tournament champions and 1998 Heineken Cup winners now have the target of finishing as the top seeds from the five groups and so drawn against the least successful of the group winners in the last eight – avoiding any of the Heineken Cup runners-up in the process.
“We take this competition very seriously,” said Bath head coach Gary Gold. “We want to play Heineken Cup rugby and this is one of the routes to that goal.
“The way the draw works it is important to give ourselves the best chance and to have a 'full house' of points would do just that. But we have not achieved anything yet and there is still a lot of work to do – we are only around halfway there.
“If you do get another Pool winner they are still a group winner but they are not a Heineken Cup runner-up and hopefully we can earn home ground advantage at the Rec.”
Match Facts
- Bath have won 13 consecutive Amlin Challenge Cup matches. They won nine on their way to winning the 2008 final and have a 100% record this season.
- Agen have won three of their last five Amlin Challenge Cup matches but fell to Bath and in one of the shocks of the season so far, lost to Bucharest Wolves.
- Bath’s Horacio Agulla has five tries in this competition this term, only Adrien Planté of Perpignan has more (6).
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Only two players (David Paice and Luigi Ferraro) have delivered more successful lineout throws than Brett Sharman this season. 31 of his 33 throws have found a teammate.
Le SUA s'est certes incliné sur la pelouse des Anglais de Bath (19-16)
Bath secured their place in the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals with their 14th consecutive victory in the tournament after they beat a dogged Agen side 19-16 at The Recreation Ground.
Fly-half Tom Heathcote secured the points and kept his side’s unbeaten record alive with his fourth penalty midway through the second half of a tense encounter in the West Country.
The 2008 tournament champions and 1998 Heineken Cup winners now have the target of finishing as the top seeds from the five groups – a goal that would see them avoid any of the Heineken Cup Pool runners up in the draw for the quarter-finals.
Heathcote had a mixed afternoon with the boot but his two second-half penalties proved enough to secure a hard-fought victory against a resilient Top 14 team.
The Bath fly-half and his opposite number for Agen, Raphael Lagarde, swapped early penalties before Wales prop Paul James scored a try for the home side to give them a 13-9 lead at half-time.
Agen piled on the pressure at the start of the second half despite losing their playmaker Lagarde to a yellow card in the 44th minute and Bath were unable to pull away from a team who still harboured slight hopes of a place in the knockout stages themselves.
Heathcote landed his second penalty to push Bath seven points clear before Agen tied the scores at 16-16 when their big No8 Uelenitoni Fono scored their only try with 57 minutes played.
But just as it looked as though Bath’s winning run could be under threat, Heathcote kicked the hosts to victory with his final strike just six minutes after Fono’s well-taken score.
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