Bath’s George Ford picks off Gloucester to earn bragging rights

Bath took the West Country honours back down the A46 last night for the third successive time after a trip to Gloucester, winning a derby that took an age to ignite. Even then it was a penalty try 56 minutes into the game that brought the honours.

Until then it had been George Ford’s penalties – six from six at that stage – that looked like settling the issue, giving them their sixth straight win in all competitions. In the end the biggest issue of the night – the scrum – went uncontested because of injury and a yellow card before Matt Garvey settled things, trundling over twice from short range.

For what is normally a full on, red-blooded affair there was very little to get hearts pounding among the 16,000 who packed Kingsholm, even if they did have their first sight of Sam Burgess, who came on for the final 11 minutes – just in time to see Gloucester’s replacement scrum-half, Dan Robson, scuttle home from 20 yards up the left touchline.

Even James Hook’s touchline conversion brought little cheer in the Shed, who left for Christmas bridling that their greatest rivals continue to have bragging rights.

“It wasn’t an oil painting,” admitted Bath’s director of rugby, Mike Ford, while his opposite number, David Humphreys, had been doing the maths. “Of the first 11 penalties given away, six were in the scrum and all in kicking distance for George Ford, who didn’t look like missing,” said Humphreys. “It’s not good enough for creating a spectacle which both teams want.”

The last time Bath visited here they won by a point and Gloucester finished with 11 players after two red cards and five yellows were flourished by the referee, Tim Wigglesworth. All bar one of the Gloucester sinners that day have left Kingsholm and if the spending has not quite matched the levels of Bath the chequebook has been in action, buying a new coaching staff under the director of rugby, Humphreys, as well as players.

On Saturday the whistle was handed to Greg Garner, one of the Twickenham elite, who found immediate favour with the Shed by awarding a Gloucester penalty in the first minute, which was turned into three points thanks to Greg Laidlaw.

It could not last and Garner was in the Shed’s bad books almost immediately for spotting a scrum indiscretion and then giving Bath a penalty for Ford to level the scores.

The game crackled even if the first 30 minutes produced nothing more than penalties attempts – two by Ford, both converted, two by Laidlaw who fluffed one. The Shed was less than pleased when Kyle Eastmond bundled Henry Purdy into touch and was furious when Richard Hibbard was penalised to stretch the Bath lead to six points.

That was the way the first half petered out; plenty of tension, but with precious few chances, the biggest cheers coming for a couple of penalties awarded against the visiting scrum and Laidlaw and Ford landing another kick apiece.

There was very little to cheer at the start of the second half either, with Garner penalising both sets of forwards and speaking to both front rows. Ford landed his sixth penalty, but even when Anthony Watson and Matt Banahan combined attractively up the left it came to nothing, Ford’s kick falling comfortably into the arms of Charlie Sharples rather than the intended target, Semesa Rokodoguni.

Finally Garner’s patience broke. The new signing David Halaifonua was shown a yellow three minutes after coming on and from the next rolling maul Bath made the numbers tell.