Nine Bath Rugby Academy players helped University of Bath end the calendar year on a high with a 35-22 victory over Leeds Beckett in BUCS Super Rugby.

Scrum-half Tom Carr-Smith and fly-half Sam Harris crossed for tries with the latter also hitting five conversions.

Six of the starting pack were Academy forwards as Archie Stanley, Jasper Spandler, Eddie Erskine and Mackenzie Graham took their places in the tight five, while Ethan Staddon and Thompson Cowan lined up on the flanks.

Returning from a long-term injury, Josh Dingley was named among the replacements for the first time this season.

It was Team Bath’s eighth win in 11 matches and sees them in second in the BUCS Super Rugby table heading into the Christmas break.

Ryan Davis, Rugby Performance Squad Backs Coach for Team Bath, said: “It was a pretty stop-start game, but we found a way to win and we’re happy with where we are going into the break. We now get three or four weeks to reflect on the season so far and we’ll be raring to go again come January.

“Our back play has really stepped up in the past couple of weeks. It’s a running competition between Mark Lilley and I – our maul tries and pick-and-goes have been getting the headlines recently, so it’s good for our backs to step up and score all the tries today! It adds another string to our bow."

Playing in freezing temperatures at Dings Crusaders’ Shaftesbury Park, Leeds opened the scoring through centre Alex Green and Freddie Spensley added five points from his boot to give the visiotes a 10-0 lead.

Team Bath responded instantly as, from their first sustained spell of possession and pressure, the ball was switched from left to right where captain Alfie Garside was on hand to cut through for a fine try which Harris converted.

They went ahead for the first time just before the 20-minute mark when they took advantage of an overthrow on a Beckett line-out to launch an attack which ended with Alex Clayton going over in the left-hand corner for his first try of the season. Harris added an excellent conversion from the touchline.

Spensley was just off target with a penalty attempt before Team Bath stretched their lead with another fine backs try, with full-back Luca Mignot this time touching down after some swift hands from Ludo Kolade and Harris, who again added the extras.

Leeds Beckett cut the half-time gap to 21-15 when a perfectly-judged kick to the corner proved just too high for Team Bath to cut out and wing Joey Devine was able to touch down.

Team Bath’s advantage was extended two minutes into the second half thanks to a lightning break from their own 22 by their half-back pairing. A loose ball was kicked forward by Carr-Smith, who managed to outsprint his opponent to kick on again and Harris supported brilliantly to touch down before it went over the dead-ball line.

His conversion made it 28-15 but Leeds Beckett were not going away and, despite the setback of losing a player to a dislocated shoulder, they were able to launch a sustained period of pressure during which replacement Elis Horgan was sent to the sin bin.

Team Bath held firm, though, and stretched their advantage when an incisive line break from Ethan Staddon set up fellow Academy player Carr-Smith to touch down near the posts and leave Harris with a simple conversion.

Leeds Beckett had the last word when Devine intercepted a pass in his own 22 and sprinted the length of the field to score the visitors’ third try, which Jake Scott converted.

Team Bath now have a six-week break over the festive period before kicking off the second half of the season with a West Country derby against Hartpury at the Team Bath Sports Training Village. It is taking place on Wednesday 25 January, kick-off 18:30, and admission is free.

Carr-Smith and Harris score tries in Team Bath win over Leeds Beckett

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