Bath Rugby’s 2018 Premiership Rugby 7s campaign ended with a 31-29 defeat to Harlequins in the quarter-finals at Franklin’s Gardens.
A late try from Jack Davies looked to have won it for the Blue, Black and White, before Calum Waters scored with the clock in the red to snatch a late victory for Quins.
Bath started with Max Wright, Tom Doughty, Jack Davies, Chris Cook, Jack Wilson, Darren Atkins and Levi Davis.
They got off to the perfect start as Davis made a break deep into Quins territory, before the ball was recycled and spread right, and captain Wilson dived over the whitewash. Atkins then added the extras. 0-7.
Quins struck back instantly when Femi Sofalorin raced 80m for the try, before Davis ran in Bath’s second try from 70m to re-establish the Blue, Black and White’s lead after the restart. 7-14.
Bath extended their lead to 12 points when Doughty found space down the blindside before offloading to Cook and the scrum-half showed his strength to dot down. 7-19.
Fergus Guiry got Quins back into the match on the stroke of half-time as he broke through the Bath defence to score unopposed. 14-19.
Half-time: Harlequins 14-19 Bath Rugby
Doughty superbly denied Quins from scoring what looked a clear try early in the second half and after recovering possession, Bath worked the ball into the Quins 22’. Wilson found Atkins with a long, bouncing pass down the right side and he finished the well-worked move in the corner. 14-24
Louis Roach scored Harlequins’ third try of the game to reduce the lead to five points, before Bath lost the ball at the scrum and Quins’ skipper Callum Waters raced through to give them the lead. 26-24
Davis made a break down the left and won a penalty, which he took quickly and offloaded the ball to Davies to score what looked like the match winning try. 26-29
Bath put in some good tackles, but they conceded a penalty and with the clock in the red, Waters took it quickly, and went inside and outside Wilson to score his eighth try of the competition and seal a dramatic late victory for Harlequins.
Full-time: Harlequins 31-29 Bath Rugby
