Bath 16-9 Edinburgh
Bath remain bottom of Pool 4
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Sunday, 13, Dec 2009 04:21
A solid defensive performance earned Bath a narrow 16-9 win against Edinburgh at the Rec in Pool 4 of the Heineken Cup.
It could have been more had Nicky Little brought his kicking boots but in the end solid defence earned the hosts the deserved victory.
Edinburgh did manage to earn a bonus point that keeps them third and still in with a chance of qualification.
Bath grabbed first half tries through Pieter Dixon and Michael Stevenson but Edinburgh kept in touch through three Chris Paterson penalties and trailed just 13-9.
The second half was a tight, tense affair riddled with errors but a Little penalty was enough to earn Bath a narrow victory.
Jack Cuthbert replaced the suspended Matt Banahan for Bath with lock Peter Short also coming into the starting 15.
For Edinburgh Phil Godman was back at fly-half whilst Ross Ford and John Houston come in for Andrew Kelly and Mark Robertson.
Bath were straight out of the blocks and 5-0 up with three minutes gone.
Nick Abendanon and Michael Stevenson made the initial break and from there Michael Claasens fed Little who found Pieter Dixon who squeezed over the line.
Little was wide with the conversion but was on target with his second shot at goal making it 8-0 with a penalty.
The reliable boot of Chris Paterson cancelled out those three points in the 13th minute after Bath were penalised at the breakdown.
Midway through the first half and the Bath lead was down to two as Paterson added his second penalty after David Flatman was penalised for pulling down a scrum.
Bath were looking dangerous going forward and so it was no surprise when try number two arrived in the 30th minute.
Shontayne Hape made the initial break in the Edinburgh 22 before Matthew Carraro fed Stevenson who crashed over in the corner to make it 13-6.
Despite having to play ten minutes with 14 men after Godman was sinbinned for backchat Edinburgh reduced the deficit to four when Paterson kicked a penalty after Hape's high tackle.
The second half was poor in comparison to the first with handling errors and kicking duels becoming a permanent feature.
Little had the opportunity to reopen a seven point lead but missed a penalty from just inside the Edinburgh half, his fourth failure of the afternoon.
The fly-half finally found some form with the boot, landing a kick from almost halfway to put Bath a converted try ahead.
Edinburgh pushed for the try they needed to draw level but had to be content with a bonus point that leaves them third in Pool 4.
Tom Powell