Bath kept alive their play-off hopes when they claimed a 44-20 over Gloucester at the Recreation Ground on Sunday.
The home side secured the win thanks to a superb second half performance and they eventually outscored the Cherry and Whites by six tries to three with Taulupe Faletau leading the way for the hosts with a deserved hat-trick.
The result means Bath are still in fifth place on the table, although they are four points adrift of Leicester Tigers with just one round of matches left to play before the semi-finals.
The opening half was a cagey affair and we had to wait until the 21st minute for the opening points – Rhys Priestland slotting a penalty after a Bath maul was collapsed illegally by Gloucester’s forwards.
Three minutes later, the Cherry and Whites drew level when James Hook slotted a penalty after Chris Brooker infringed at a ruck.
The homeside regained the lead shortly afterwards when Faletau gathered a Kahn Fotuali’i chip kick before powering his way over the try-line.
Priestland added the extras before Gloucester narrowed the gap in the 34th minute when Jonny May crossed the whitewash after gathering a Henry Trinder kick.
Billy Burns failed with the conversion attempt which meant Bath held a slender 10-8 lead at the interval.
The home side were fastest out of the blocks in the second half and extended their lead in the 43rd minute courtesy of an Aled Brew try, after Ben Tapuai set him up with a superb offload in the build-up.
Bath continued to dominate and five minutes later Tapuai turned provider again, this time getting a pass out to Max Clark who went over for their third try.
Rhys Priestland added a penalty in the 55th minute which gave Bath a 27-8 lead and they pulled further ahead thanks to a Robbie Fruean try 10 minutes later.
They were not done though and Faletau scored his second five-pointer after a superb break from Kane Palma-Newport. The Wales number eight secured his hat-trick and the result for his team in 76th minute.
Gloucester struck back with tries from May and David Halaifonua, but although those scores added some respectability to the score, it was too little to late as Bath were deserved winners.
The scorers:
For Bath:
Tries: Faletau 3, Brew, Clark, Fruean
Cons: Priestland 4
Pens: Priestland 2
For Gloucester:
Tries: May 2, Halaifonua
Con: Hook
Pen: Hook
Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Max Clark, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Rhys Priestland (c), 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Francois Louw 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Shaun Knight, 2 Chris Brooker, 1 Nathan Catt
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Kane Palma-Newport, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Tom Ellis, 21 Chris Cook, 22 George Ford, 23 Robbie Fruean
Gloucester: 15 James Hook, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 David Halaifonua, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Willi Heinz (c), 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Jacob Rowan, 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Jeremy Thrush, 4 Mariano Galarza, 3 John Afoa, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Josh Hohneck
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Tom Savage, 20 Lewis Ludlow, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Charlie Sharples
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant Referees: Wayne Falla, Adam Leal
TMO: Keith Lewis
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