Bath are not yet certain of qualification for the knockout stages of this year’s Champions Cup but this six-try bonus point victory has given their chances a much-needed boost. While plenty still hinges on the outcome of Saturday’s trip to face Leinster, they are still alive in a pool where every point is having to be earned the hard way.
The Premiership pace-setters may still have to rely on Benetton being well beaten at home to La Rochelle but a losing bonus point in Dublin could now narrowly sneak them through. If they do make it through they will be suitably grateful, not for the first time, to their South African prop Thomas du Toit whose brace of tries added further gloss to a typically strong set-piece performance.
It did no harm that Clermont were forced to play for almost three-quarters of the game with 14 men following a red card to their Georgian prop Giorgi Akhaladze for a high swinging arm on Max Ojomoh. Bath’s head coach Johann van Graan felt Du Toit and his fellow tight forwards had fully deserved their reward.
How England’s watching head coach Steve Borthwick must wish he could whistle up Du Toit for the looming Six Nations but a couple of other Bath candidates quietly made a case for squad inclusion on a cool, still evening in north east Somerset. The centre Ojomoh and the flanker Ted Hill may not have propelled themselves straight into the starting XV to face Ireland on 1 February but, equally, they offered a further reminder that English rugby has no shortage of talent.
Bath, whose England flanker Sam Underhill will have surgery on an injured ankle next week, now need the entire squad to deliver in Dublin when it cannot be guaranteed they will enjoy the same officiating breaks as they did here. Clermont were deprived of a potential late bonus point when it seemed for all the world that the home side had been clinging on desperately to the ball on their own line. The red card was also slightly debatable. Slow-motion replays, as usual, made the collision appear more serious and the crowd’s loud disapproval when the incident was replayed on the big screen duly sealed Akhaladze’s fate.
It was a slight shame from a neutral perspective as the game was nicely poised but Bath were hardly complaining. An unscheduled loss in Treviso before Christmas had left them needing a good win to boost qualification prospects and a fast opening surge by the visitors would have raised more than a few nagging doubts.
Instead Clermont made a dismal start. Bath had not one but two converted tries on the board inside the first six minutes, the first from Tom de Glanville after a slicing break from Ojomoh and the second from Finn Russell, ducking inside to score having convinced the visiting defence otherwise.
A furious close-range bombardment yielded a much-needed score at the other end for Clermont, currently fourth in this season’s Top 14, but for all the darting industry of their scrum-half Baptiste Jauneau, just 21 years of age but already capped by France, their chances all but disappeared the moment Akhaladze departed.
Within two minutes of his departure Bath collected their third try of the evening, a lovely chip over the top from Russell paying off handsomely courtesy of a one-handed catch and swift offload from Ojomoh which sent big Joe Cokanasiga thundering over. Borthwick likes Ojomoh as a player and this was exactly the type of game-splitting skill that England should be seeking.
after newsletter promotion
It would be a huge punt to lob a player like Ojomoh straight in against Ireland but his time may yet come if England’s midfield conundrum persists. Ollie Lawrence will be in Borthwick’s squad but the perfect Red Rose centre pairing remains largely a matter of opinion.
Cokanasiga is another international player who can blow hot and cold and the wing was fortunate when a defensive fumble did not present Clermont with a second try because of a knock-on way back upfield. The visitors did cross the line twice more through Anthony Belleau and Peceli Yato but once Bath established themselves in their opponents’ 22 they mostly delivered.
Du Toit’s try-scoring stats continue to impress and Lawrence also made it on to the scoresheet to compound Clermont’s frustration. The French side now cannot claim a home tie in the last 16 and had been desperate to return home with something. “We’ve put ourselves in a bit of a hole by not getting a point here,” said Ian Vass, Clermont’s skills coach. “That would have made a huge difference, and it’s why we’re so disappointed.”
