Premiership: Wasps 9-25 Bath

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Bath ended a two-match losing run by inflicting a third straight Premiership defeat on Wasps

Bath spoiled Wasps' 150th anniversary celebrations with a hard-fought win at the Ricoh Arena.

Scores were locked at 9-9 at the end of a stifling first half, with Wasps' points coming from the boot of Jimmy Gopperth, while Rhys Priestland responded with three kicks for Bath.

Further penalties from Priestland and Freddie Burns edged the visitors ahead.

Semesa Rokoduguni raced onto a Jonathan Joseph chip kick late on to grab the game's only try and seal victory.

Defeat was Wasps' third in succession - and their second in a row at the Ricoh after a 20-game winning run at home - and means last season's beaten Premiership finalists slip to eighth in the table after five matches.

A first win in three for Bath - who were dominant in the scrum and put Wasps under huge pressure at the breakdown - lifts them to fifth.

Both sides suffered first-half injury setbacks, with Bath losing veteran lock Luke Charteris inside 10 minutes after the Wales forward failed a head injury assessment.

Wasps' England back-rower Nathan Hughes struggled for much of the opening 40 minutes with a left thigh injury, eventually succumbing just before the break.

The opening 40 minutes was best summed up by Priestland's drop-goal to put Bath 9-6 up, with the kick coming off the back of their best period of possession in the first half.

Priestland added another penalty after the break before going off with a leg injury, with Burns taking over kicking duties to extend Bath's lead to six points after 46 minutes.

With less than four minutes of the match remaining, the match opened up enough for Joseph to chip the ball over the Wasps defence and Rokoduguni pounced to score from the game's only clinical attacking moment.

Teams

Wasps: Miller; Wade, Daly, Macken, Bassett; Gopperth, Simpson; McIntyre, Cruse, Cooper-Woolley, Launchbury (capt), Rowlands, Haskell, Young, Hughes.

Replacements: Johnson, Harris, Doran-Jones, Garratt, Willis, Hampson, De Jongh, Watson.

Bath: Watson; Rokoduguni, Joseph, Clark, Brew; Priestland, Cook; Obano, Walker, Thomas, Ewels (capt), Charteris, Mercer, Underhill, Faletau.

Replacements: Dunn, Auterac, Perenise, Stooke, Phillips, Allinson, Burns, Tapuai.

Referee: Matthew Carley.