Bath secured an impressive 23-0 victory over Benetton in their European Champions Cup opener at the Recreation Ground on Saturday.
Bath dominated most of the match but left it late to truly seal the victory, which they did with a 71st minute try.
Josh Lewis opened the scoring with two early penalties in the third and sixth minute.
Bath flanker Zach Mercer scored the first try of the match which Lewis converted to give the home side a 13-0 lead at half-time.
Things went from bad to worse for Benetton early in the second half as Marco Fuser was yellow-carded in the 46th minute of play.
This was immediately followed by another Lewis penalty conversion.
Bath left it rather late to truly put the game to bed when winger Aled Brew went in to score a five pointer in the 71st minute that Lewis made seven. The final score read 23-0 to Bath.
The scorers:
For Bath:
Tries: Mercer, Brew
Cons: Lewis 2
Pens: Lewis 3
Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Max Clark, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Josh Lewis, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Zach Mercer, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Charlie Ewels (c), 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Nick Auterac
Replacements: 16 Nathan Charles, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 James Phillips, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Kahn Fotuali’i, 22 Jack Wilson, 23 Darren Allinson
Benetton Rugby: 15 Luca Sperandio, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Nacho Brex, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Tommaso Benvenuti, 10 Ian McKinley, 9 Giorgio Bronzini, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Francesco Minto, 6 Seb Negri Da Oleggio, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Federico Zani
Replacements: 16 Tomas Baravalle, 17 Cherif Traore, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Marco Lazzaroni, 20 Nasi Manu, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Tito Tebaldi, 23 Andrea Bronzini
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens, Sam Grove-White Scotland
TMO: Neil Hennessey (Wales)
The post Bath blank Benetton appeared first on Planet Rugby.