Northumbria were first to score in the 11th minute of the encounter as centre Jonny Ashman went over under the posts. This came after a good spell of pressure to leave Oscar Yandall with a simple conversion. [0-7]

Team Bath responded with two George Worboys penalties in quick succession but Yandall replied with one at the other end. [6-10]

Ashman then managed to go over for his second try. The centre was on hand to finish off after a fantastic break by flanker Alex Todd, who had sliced through the home defence. [6-15]

The response was immediate as the Blue and Gold forced a penalty from the restart and kicked it to the corner before unleashing their trademark line-out drive, which ended with Alex Nisbet burrowing over. [11-15]

However, it was Northumbria who grabbed the final points of the half as they forced another penalty in front of the posts and Yandall’s kick put them 18-11 up at the break. [11-18]

Half-time – University of Bath 11-18 Northumbria University

University of Bath closed the gap seven minutes into the second-half when replacement hooker George Holroyd scored on his debut following a solid line-out drive. [16-18]

Flanker Jack Kenningham then barged his way through a couple of tackles before off-loading for co-captain Ed Rimmer to finish in style. Worboys’ added his routine conversion. [23-18]

After their hard-work and resilience, Bath conceded a penalty from the restart, allowing Northumbria to quickly regain the game's momentum. A kick to the corner led to exerted pressure on the home line and Callum Burke eventually forced his way through to level the scores before Yandall’s conversion put the visitors ahead again. [23-35]

Team Bath complete their home run of fixtures next Wednesday 11th December when Loughborough come to the Sports Training Village.

Full-time – University of Bath 23-25 Northumbria University

Performance Pathway Coach, Louis Messer said: “For us, we will definitely reflect on that performance and ask ourselves was it the game plan, or were we just not consistent at delivering it on the night.

"The boys will be hurting after that but as a group we need to understand that there were loads of excellent stuff out there tonight that we’ve been building on over the past 6 to 8 weeks.”

University of Bath miss out in narrow defeat against Northumbria

Related News