Bath salvaged a valuable last minute bonus point after a 22-16 away defeat against Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop on Sunday.
With Nick Abendanon testing the Quins defence out from the off with kicks deep into the home side's territory, Bath started the game off positively.
In the 8th minute with Quins pulling down at a Bath line-out, Olly Barkley successfully hit a long range penalty to open the scoring.
Quins responded in the 14th minute with fly-half Adrian Jarvis leveling through a penalty kick of his own. A period of sustained pressure from the home side then followed and a mixture of determined defense and Quins handling errors saw the away side not concede any points.
In the 27th minute an altercation between players from both sides saw Quins go down to 14 men, with hooker Tani Fuga being shown a yellow card. With the home fans showing their disapproval at the referee's decision by whistling around the ground, Olly Barkley ignored the steadily increasing rise in the decibel level to slot home a penalty and restore Bath's lead.
Quins got right back into the match straight from the kick-off steadily going up the pitch, just being thwarted at the final hurdle by more solid Bath defence. Their efforts did not go unrewarded however and a Jarvis penalty nullified Barkley's effort minutes earlier.
Jarvis then had a chance to put Quins ahead going into the break but his penalty fell short of the posts.
After the break however, Jarvis made amends for his earlier penalty miss to take Harlequins into the lead for the first in the match. The lead was short lived though with Barkley responding with another penalty two minutes later.
The home side then nearly went into the lead again in the 50th minute. After a great break by Bath flanker Jonny Faamatuainu, Barkley's attempted kick through the Quins defense was blocked. With two chasers after the ball, Nick Abendanon gathered the ball up a few meters from the Bath try line before being bundled into touch.
Jarvis restored the home sides lead in the 52nd minute with his forth successful penalty. Quins then scored a try in the 56th minute. With wing Simon Keogh about to be bundled into touch he somehow managed to put in a last ditch kick diagonally across the pitch which was picked up by scrum-half Danny Care who then raced towards the Bath try line and scored despite the attention of the Bath defenders. Jarvis converted.
With Bath camped in their own half for most of the second half, the away side were unable to settle for most of the half. Chances did come later on however. Daniel Browne was unlucky not to score and then after sustained pressure, Matt Banahan stormed through only for the try to be not given due to the fact that Bath had been adjudged to be guilty of crossing.
With time on the clock ticking, Quins turned the screw with another Jarvis penalty taking the score to 22-9. However just as all looked dead and buried, a Bath attack started within their own half, quickly went up the pitch and was rewarded when Michael Claassens pushed his way over underneath the posts to score. Barkley secured the bonus point with a straight forward conversion.
Bath - Abendanon, Stephenson, Crockett ©, Berne (Fuimaono 60), Banahan, Barkley, Claassens; Flatman (Jarvis 50), Dixon, Bell, Short, Grewcock, Goodman, Faamatuainu, Browne (Feaunati 74).
