Van Wyk late show steals it for Bath

BATH kept cool when under the cosh and showed real ticker in the second half to beat a Quins team that lost their attacking poise after the break.

- BRENDAN GALLAGHER

Trailing by 10 points in the final quarter Bath had to dig deep on an evening when the 50-50 bounces and decisions had not gone their way but their strong bench started to flex their muscles right on cue and their version of the bomb squad saw them home.

First, Thomas du Toit powered over from short range after good work from young Austin Emens and then with two minutes left du Toit’s front row colleague Francois van Wyk dived in from a yard or less with Marcus Smith and Jack Kenningham unable to stop the huge South African.

Finn Russell nailed the conversion to leave Quins needing a try in the last 60 seconds which proved beyond them as another fine Premiership game came to a rousing conclusion.

After the high octane fare from Bristol earlier in the day you wondered if this match could compete but in very short order we were up and running.