Bath Rugby dish out six of the best to Sale Sharks
A hat-trick of tries by wing Michael Stephenson set Bath on their way to a six-tries-to-one walloping of a fresh-faced Sale Sharks side.
Bath and their fans will be relieved to have finally got a thumping win under their belts after three losses on the trot. Another cause for relief will be the fact that fly-half Butch James - making his comeback after more than nine months of rehabilitation from his fifth knee reconstruction - got through 40 minutes of rugby unscathed.
The South African gave Bath immediate impetus and clearly gave confidence to those around him, particularly Ryan Davis, who had his best game of the season.
It took less than two minutes for Bath to get the scoreboard ticking in this dead rubber Anglo-Welsh Cup clash, Stephenson touching down in the corner following some sleight of hand from hooker Pieter Dixon and an incisive inside line by the impressive Nick Abendanon.
Matt Carraro crashed over for Bath's second in the 10th minute following a deft pop pass from Ryan Davis.
The magic continued in the 16th minute when Dixon powered over following a well-executed driving maul from a lineout claimed by Stuart Hooper.
Sale clawed seven points back with a classic pick-and-go from the base of the scrum by Kristian Ormsby, but the Number 8's converted 24th minute try offered only brief respite for the visitors.
Seven minutes later Hooper, Bath's captain for the afternoon, got on the end of a James crossfield kick and released Stephenson for his second.
Davis' perfect opening half from the kicking-tee meant Bath led at the break 28-7.
Following James' departure, Bath looked more hesitant and lateral during the opening exchanges of the second period. But the show was soon back on the road, Stephenson grabbing his hat-trick in the 48th minute. The wing showed fine pace to latch onto a well-weighted grubber by scrum-half Scott Bemand. Davis again converted.
The pace of the match then dropped. Sale put Bath under increasing pressure as the half wore on and referee James Jones began to lose patience with the home side's play at the breakdown.
Bath flanker Guy Mercer was sin-binned with a quarter-of-an-hour to go, but resolute defending and a lack of penetration from the visitors' backline prevented the Sharks crossing the whitewash. Their ambitions weren't helped by the late yellow-carding of former England wing Ben Cohen.
Replacement Jonny Fa'amatuainu and his fearsome hand-off put Bath back on the front foot in the 78th minute with a charge up the middle. That gave Bath their best platform for 20 minutes and they immediately capitalised, Jack Cuthbert touching down following good distribution from Davis and replacement Tom Cheeseman.
Davis was wayward from the kicking-tee - spoiling his 100 per cent conversion record this afternoon - but Bath's 33-point winning margin gave the home side plenty of reasons to be optimistic ahead of the resumption of Premiership action.
Bath Rugby: Nick Abendanon (Joe Maddock, 53), Jack Cuthbert, Matt Carraro, Ryan Davis, Michael Stephenson, Butch James (Tom Cheeseman, 40), Scott Bemand (Mike Baxter, 76); David Barnes (Nathan Catt, 40), Pieter Dixon (Lee Mears, 40), Duncan Bell (Aaron Jarvis, 40), Stuart Hooper (c), Peter Short, Daniel Browne (Josh Ovens, 65), Guy Mercer, Ben Skirving (Jonny Faamatuainu, 63)
Sale Sharks: Marika Vakacegu (David Doherty, 43), Oriol Ripol, Jordan Davies (Alex Cheeseman, 64), David Bishop, Ben Cohen, Mark Atkinson (Will Cliff, 70), Chris Leck; Gavin Kerr, Mahonri Schwalger (Marc Jones, 64), Martin Halsall (Rob O’Donnell, 48), Dean Schofield (c) (Ian Kench, 41), Sean Cox, Carl Fearns, David Seymour, Kristian Ormsby
Unused replacements: Dan Birchall, Chris Jones
Referee: James Jones (WRU)
Attendance: 10,965
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