Gloucester Rugby clinch victory at the death against Bath Rugby

Gloucester Rugby scored with the last kick of the game to clinch a 21-22 victory over Bath Rugby at the Recreation Ground.

The visitors scored the opening try of the afternoon through their captain Willi Heinz after just five minutes. Gloucester’s in-form centre Henry Trinder made the initial break, darting through the Bath defence on half-way before offloading inside to the supporting Heinz. The scrum-half used the dummy to good effect, creating the space for him to dive over in the corner. 5-0

Bath responded with a spectacular length of the field try 10 minutes later. Jonathan Joseph created the initial break, storming into the Gloucester half before finding Anthony Watson. The fullback used all his experience to draw the defender before releasing Rokoduguni for his sixth try of the Aviva Premiership season. 5-5

Bath continued to pile the pressure on to the Gloucester defence, and were rewarded with three points from Rhys Priestland, whose neatly struck penalty gave the home side lead going into the interval.

Half-time: Bath Rugby 8-5 Gloucester Rugby   

Owen Williams opened the scoring in the second-half with a penalty, which was quickly cancelled out by Priestland to leave the game closely poised at 11-8.

Despite spending large parts of the first-half on the back foot, Gloucester found their way back into the game with their second try after 53 minutes. John Afoa picked the ball up off the back of the ruck and surged into the Bath 22 before sending a reverse pass to Heinz in the tackle. The scrum-half gathered the offload and ran in for his second try of the game, and Williams converted. 11-15

Bath closed the gap to a single point on 65 minutes - Priestland adding another three points from the tee. 14-15

With time ticking away, Rokoduguni put Bath back in front as he added another try to his tally. The move, which was started by a superb 40m run from Taulupe Faletau, gave Bath the platform to build an attack deep in the Gloucester 22. The ball was spread wide and a looping pass from Watson found Rokoduguni, who beat three defenders. Priestland's conversion gave Bath a six-point advantage with three minutes to play. 21-15

However, Gloucester were not ready to concede the game and continued to test the Bath defence. The Cherry and Whites spent five minutes trying to edge their way over the whitewash and their persistence finally paid off. With Bath camped on their own line, Ed Slater dived through a number of bodies, and the decision was left with the TMO. After the try was given, it was left to Williams to slot the crucial conversion and give Gloucester the victory.

Final score: Bath Rugby 21-22 Gloucester Rugby