Red hot Scarlets humble Bath to take control of the group

Having been beaten at Parc y Scarlets earlier on in the campaign, Scarlets were hoping to make amends at the Rec despite having countless injuries in the ranks. Once again Bath were sluggish out of the blocks and against an attack minded team they were punished and the first half is one that will not want to be repeated again! 

 

Scarlets were sharper, faster and gave an attacking showpiece that any team would be envious of. The Scarlets pounced and countered at every opportunity regardless of their position on the pitch and were rewarded with three delightful tries in the first half courtesy of Tadgh Beirne, Paul Asquith and Hadleigh Parkes, leaving Bath with a mountain to climb as they regrouped at half time 3-22 down.

 

If Bath hoped the Pro 12 champions would run out of gas they were dearly mistaken, as the Welsh wizards cantered over for their fourth and bonus point try in the fifty first minute courtesy of a wonderfully paced grubber kick from full back Rhys Patchell, who slotted it in behind the defence which was finished off by centre Scott Williams to add more misery to Bath’s evening. 

 

During the week after endless weeks of speculation, Bath confirmed that Matt Banahan would be leaving for Gloucester at the end of the season and he showed his current employers what they will be missing, with a ridiculously audacious finish from the tightest of angles as Bath scored their first try of the game in the fifty eighth minute to give the capacity crowd something to cheer.

 

Bath continued to push forward against a stubborn Scarlets defence and their efforts were finally rewarded when Zach Mercer, the enforcer once again showing glimpses of brilliance during the game scoring from the base of the ruck to add a bit more respectability to the score but the blue, black and white were given a rugby lesson by the Scarlets who were clinical and showed what a talented group of players they have. 

 

This week the Bath team need to regroup and focus on beating Benetton Treviso in Italy next Sunday and get a bonus point victory and hope that Scarlets can beat Toulon convincingly to get through to the quarter finals, but Bath once again showed they really need to focus on their levels of intensity, as the first half performance let them down again regardless of playing against a very good Scarlets team.