by Jamil Bin-Salih
USW got back to winning ways with a dominant victory over University of Bath, moving them up to second place in the BUCS Rugby Union South A League.
The visitors started the game with real intent, and it didn’t take long for them to score their first try of the afternoon.
With three minutes on the clock, Bryn Goodall picked out Joe Davies on the left wing with a looping pass, and he took no time in touching down for the first score of the match.
Cavan Slade kicked the resulting conversion to make it 7-0 to USW.
Nine minutes later, Goodall was in the midst of it again, this time he was the scorer as he burst through the Bath backline to touch down. Slade narrowly missed the subsequent conversion.
The intensity of the game didn’t slow down thereafter, Bath responded to the early USW pressure with a try of their own as No.3 battled through a stern USW defence to touch down. No.10 also scored the conversion to take it to 12-7 with 19 minutes played.
USW regained the initiative six minutes later as Tom Stacey scored a try following a well-worked USW driving maul. Slade successfully kicked the conversion.
Bath’s No.10 reduced the deficit in the 28th minute, kicking a penalty to take Bath to the 10-point mark.
On the stroke of half-time, Cavan Slade kicked a penalty to make it 22-10 to USW heading into the interval.
The most impressive score of the day came from USW’s Joe Davies, who made a good read to intercept a sloppy Bath pass and then powered through a sea of Bath shirts to touch down for the away side – just three minutes into the second half.
The second half didn’t quite have the same intensity as the first, as USW knew that the game was theirs to lose.
It took until the 67th minute for another score in the match, this time it was replacement Joe Popple who powered through a stubborn Bath backline to touchdown in the corner. Slade was successful with the conversion.
Things got even better for the visitors in the dying embers, as Alex Meeson slammed home a try as well as Cavan Slade kicking two more scores to heap misery on the hosts.
It finished 48-10 on the afternoon, as USW bounced back from a slump in form with a resounding victory to leapfrog Bath and put them in second place in the league.
Star player: Liam Greening
USW: 15. Liam Greening; 14. Cobi Flowers; 13. Jack Shaddick; 12. Bryn Goodall; 11. Joe Davies; 10. Cavan Slade; 9. Harry Rumens; 1. Connor Lewis; 2. Tom Stacey; 3. Ben Warren; 4. Alex Meeson; 5. Cameron Taylor; 6. Cally James; 7. Kyle Evans; 8. Gareth Jones (C)
Replacements: 16. W Haly; 17. J Popple; 18. J Pritchard; 19. I Davies; 20. M Jones; 21. G Workman; 22. J Parkinson; 23. B Clarke
