Following Bath’s 61-26 win over Gloucester in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals, here are our key winners and losers from an entertaining game at the Rec.
Winners
Ciaran Donoghue
Johann van Graan will be beaming with the mature display from 22-year-old full-back Ciaran Donoghue. He began brightly with a dazzling linebreak in the build-up to Tom de Glanville’s opening score and simply carried on from there. He consistently found himself popping up near the action and seemed hungry for work, but also found a nice connection with the rest of his back three to create havoc for the Gloucester defence with the trio often rotating.
The Bath head of rugby should be applauded for his use of young players, but Donoghue certainly took the chance afforded to him in a game of this magnitude.
Tom de Glanville
England are blessed with back three players right now, but Tom de Glanville continues to show why he should be considered for higher honours sooner rather than later. On top of his work within the back three combination, he posed a consistent threat out wide, and his attacking IQ really helped unpick Gloucester’s defence and, in turn, get Bath attacking in different spaces across the field.
He faces some stern competition to get into Borthwick’s squad this summer, even with a number of players likely to tour with the British and Irish Lions, but he is certainly showing he deserves a go.
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Alfie Barbeary
Again, he’s in a hotly contested area when it comes to England, but this was another reminder of what he can do. He showed some really mature awareness, on top of footballing prowess, for his opening score and later backed that up with sheer brute force to power through for his second. On top of that, he just consistently made work for himself and managed to make some serious dents in the Gloucester defence.
That sort of brute strength and desire to carry in the tight will please Borthwick no end, considering how he wants his number eight to play now.
Lee Blackett
Bath’s attack was absolutely rampant today and that would have pleased the man behind it no end. There was not only serious intent to play fast, free-flowing rugby, but they also showed seriously good intelligence to go at the right holes at the right times to power through the Cherry and Whites line. For their troubles, the Blue, Black and Whites crossed for a whopping 10 tries across the match, and could easily have had more too (which is a scary thought!)
This is also another great sign Blackett could do wonders for the England attack this summer, with a spot open on Borthwick’s ticket due to Richard Wigglesworth’s Lions commitments.
Johann van Graan
The quest for the treble is still on, and van Graan will be incredibly pleased with the manner of the win. This felt like a proper statement win over a pretty strong Gloucester squad, particularly with the quality on their bench, and that should fuel them moving into their upcoming Premiership games and the semi-final date with Edinburgh in May.
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Jack Singleton
On a pretty sour day for Gloucester, hooker Jack Singleton stood out as a bright spark. He showed some nice attacking flourishes to aid in Gloucester’s tit-for-tat attack in the first-half, consistently made himself available for work in the tight and scored a nice try for his efforts. The lineout was also fairly solid during his stint.
Losers
Dom Waldouck
While Bath’s attack should be praised to its absolute fullest, Gloucester defence coach Dom Waldouck will be furious with the manner at which they conceded tries today. Bath just managed to consistently break through the line, either by sheer attacking brilliance or just by tough grunt up front, and the manner of ease with which they sliced through will really worry Waldouck.
It just seemed an inevitability that whenever Bath got into striking territory, they would score.
Cherry and White squad
It was a fun experiment, but unfortunately it just didn’t work today. It wasn’t through lack of trying, but they were just outgunned by a hungry Bath bench who are experienced in this sort of tactic.
Gloucester’s style of play this year also really doesn’t suit the ‘Bomb Squad’ tactic either, with them looking to just attack, attack, attack, and while they should be applauded for trying something new, it didn’t quite go to plan.
Jaco Coetzee
It was all going swimmingly for the South African as he crossed for a superb score, but he quickly came off with a serious injury and was later helped off the pitch by two physios. Hopefully it’s not as serious as it first appears.