Gloucs Hold On

The Cherry and Whites had to battle hard for the first away win of the season against a Bath side determined to break their winless run but had to settle for a losing bonus point as Gloucs closed the game out to win 21-17. It was tense but the win moves the Cherry and Whites up to sixth having played one game less than Quins who are one place above .

It wasn't as close in the first half with two tries from Matias Alemanno separated by one from Santiago Socino giving Gloucs a 21-7 lead at the break - Miles Reid crossing for Bath..

The second half belonged to the home side with a close range effort from Tom Dunn and then replacement Niall Annett cut the lead to four points.

It was three tries apiece with Adam Hastings notching all of his conversions while Orlando Bailey missed two of his. 

That set up a tense finale as Bath's momentum had the home crowd behind them,  but credit to Gloucs whose line-out and mauling were the key factorsr as was the willingness to put bodies in the defensive wall.

A relieved George Skivington told the media: "I think we looked like we haven't played rugby very much in the last month, which we haven't.  We didn't quite execute a few bits in the first half but our maul came through for us which was great.

"The boys' doggedness in the end to defend 25 phases and not give a penalty away  was outstanding. That's more a reflection of the group, how hard they fight for each other. 

"Sometimes you've got to win ugly and that's what they did."

Regardless, Louis Rees-Zammitt and his teammates were flavour of the month with the travelling support.