Cruel defeat leaves Bath on the brink
BATH head coach Steve Meehan admits his side have a mountain to climb if they are to make it through the Heineken Cup group stages after a dramatic 29-27 defeat to Stade Francais yesterday.
Julien Dupuy struck a last-gasp penalty at the Recreation Ground to condemn Bath to their second successive Pool Four defeat and deliver a hammer blow to their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals.
And now Bath face a monumental task as no team has ever reached the last eight of the competition having lost their opening two group games – a challenge that Meehan is fully aware of.
“It is going to take a really good effort. We are going to have play very well in our remaining four games and hope other results go our way,” he said.
The home side had raced into a commanding lead, Nicky Little and Matt Carraro crossing for tries in quick succession to give them a nine point advantage at the break.
But Ollie Phillips raced clear to cut the deficit and although Dupuy missed the conversion he slotted his seventh penalty at the death to snatch victory.
Meehan added: “I won’t be too hard on the players. Unfortunately, we were penalised a couple of times too often, and perhaps we went away a little from how we played in the first half.”
Elsewhere, the Ospreys survived a Clermont Auvergne second-half fight-back to edge a pulsating Pool Three encounter 25-24 at the Liberty Stadium.