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The table-turning halftime message Johann Van Graan gave Bath
By PA
Bath head coach Johann Van Graan praised his side’s comeback after seeing them overturn a 24-17 half-time deficit to claim a 12-try Gallagher Premiership thriller 55-31 against Gloucester before a capacity crowd at Kingsholm.
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After last week’s surprising home defeat to Bristol, Bath needed a quick response but they were second best in the first half as Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams inspired Gloucester to score some excellent tries to put the visitors on the back foot.
However, Bath were a totally different side in the second half by raising their game to dominate proceedings with the hosts crumbling in the face of rampant opposition.
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Beno Obano scored two tries for Bath, while Josh Bayliss, Tom De Glanville, Ollie Lawrence, Jaco Coetzee and Finn Russell were also on the try-scoring sheet, with Russell adding five conversions and a penalty. There was also a penalty try award.
Max Llewellyn, Williams, Charlie Atkinson and Ollie Thorley scored Gloucester’s tries, while Santiago Carreras converted three and kicked a penalty as George Barton added a conversion.
Van Graan said: “There were a few words at half-time as we needed more width, reaction speed and to improve our contact.
“We needed to be a lot better in the second half and we were.
“There was a very good mindset and we made one or two tactical adjustments. I was very happy with the way the guys responded.
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“We also used the wind and to get a bonus point and score eight tries here is a very good effort.”
The home side overcame considerable disruption in the first half, losing three players to head injury assessments (HIA) with only flanker Jack Clement able to return as Gareth Anscombe and Freddie Thomas remained on the sidelines.
Gloucester head coach, George Skivington, said: “The final scoreline was tough to take as we were right in the game with 20 minutes to go.
“We were very good in the first half with some decent line-breaks and our attack looked good but we allowed the game to run away from us.
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“We pushed our luck to the limit at times. Our attack did score four tries but on the downside was, we gave them four tries from our errors.
“We lost a couple of locks and our line-out malfunctioned by losing six line-outs so we need to be better than that if we are going to win Premiership games.
“We took nothing from this fixture last season so a bonus-point is at least an improvement but that’s only a minor positive.”
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