Copyright scotsman
Finn Russell prepared for his Scotland commitments next month by helping Bath record a 40-15 win over Bristol in the Gallagher PREM. Russell started at stand-off and set up a try for Ollie Lawrence with a delicate chip as the Scotland No 10 showed his creative tricks at the Rec. He also had an early kick charged down that led to a Bristol try, but his national team head coach Gregor Townsend will just be delighted that his talisman came through unscathed. Scotland face USA, New Zealand, Argentina and Tonga at Murrayfield next month in four Quilter Nations Series matches - although Russell will not be available for the match against the Americans next month as the game falls outside the Test window. Bath play Bristol again in the Premiership Rugby Cup group stages on Friday, although he is unlikely to be involved. Late tries from Sam Underhill and Henry Arundell wrapped up the win for Bath in their West Country derby clash. Underhill dotted down a loose ball over the Bristol try-line in added time before Arundell sprinted from one end to the other with 85 minutes on the match clock. Russell kicked his fourth conversion out of five to complete the scoring. Bristol led early on and had posed a constant threat until their discipline faltered in the second half, especially after Bath brought on a stronger bench. Bath were unbeaten at home in the PREM since their near-neighbours pulled off a 26-34 victory at the Rec just over a year ago. But they got off to the worst possible start, conceding a try to Kalaveti Ravouvou after just 49 seconds. Russell’s attempted clearance from the kick-off was charged down by Benhard van Rensburg and Bristol worked to find space on the left for the wing to score. Sam Worsley was wide with the conversion. The visitors continued to harry and hustle but Bath battled back into the game, winning a succession of attacking penalties. After 11 minutes they were back on terms when Joe Cokanasiga took a Russell pass and offloaded to Miles Reid. Guy Pepper was on his shoulder to score an unconverted try. Suddenly a gale force wind and rain swept the Rec, virtually nullifying Bath’s kicking game as the ball was repeatedly blown back over their heads. Bristol dominated territory and took advantage when hooker Gabriel Oghre played a neat one-two with Kieran Marmion at a line-out to score in the corner. Worsley added the conversion and added a penalty shortly afterwards to put Bristol 15-5 ahead. As the skies cleared Bath found their mojo and Lawrence latched on to a deft chip over the top from Russell to score at the posts, with the Lions fly-half adding the conversion. Russell was then teeing up another within three minutes and successfully so, this time from wide out on the left after Cameron Redpath dived in at the corner flag. Bath looked to have extended their 19-15 half-time lead within nine minutes of the restart when Lawrence forced his way the try-line but it was ruled out – after the conversion – for an earlier knock on. To the home crowd’s disgust, the same fate befell a second pick-and-go ‘try’ when play resumed with a penalty. The penalties kept coming and Santiago Grondona was eventually shown a yellow card on the hour mark but Bristol kept up their resistance until a kick-pass by Russell presented Cokanasiga with a 64th minute try. With Russell’s conversion, that opened up a 24-15 lead which did not look quite enough until the late burst of points.
