After 29 years without a top-flight title, could Bath go back-to-back? Certainly little has changed dramatically to suggest that Johann van Graan’s side will be anything other than top contenders as they bid to defend their Prem Rugby crown. Missing three fly halves and thus fielding a centre in the No 10 shirt, they still had too much for Harlequins on a day that illustrated the difference in depth between the two sides.
With Finn Russell on mandatory rest after a draining British and Irish Lions summer, Santiago Carreras otherwise occupied with Argentina’s looming tussle with the Springboks and the immensely talented Ciaran Donoghue injured, it was Max Ojomoh pulling the strings for the visitors. Usually sighted at inside centre, this was a rather respectable job as a fill-in, illustrating the passing range that make him a player of real interest to England head coach. In consort with the ever impressive Ben Spencer, Ojomoh steered the league’s best forward pack effectively around the park and let them do their game-wrecking work.
“He plays the game a lot like Finn,” Spencer hailed of his half-back partner. “He doesn’t worry too much about making mistakes, he wants to play the game with a smile on his face. The way that he spots space is a real strength of his game.” With Russell and Carreras not available until the Gloucester game in round three, Ojomoh is likely to have one more week at least in the shirt.
It had been a summer of upheaval for Harlequins, one that began with a coaching change as director of rugby Billy Millard departed and ended with another, senior coach Danny Wilson off to Wales just a week or so before the start of the season. But Quins have done some of their best work in times of chaos in the past, and started as if they had a point to prove, Will Evans taking namesake Jarrod’s neat pass to cross after little more than 90 seconds.
Barely six minutes later, the flying flanker had a second, Fin Baxter’s sharp transfer at the line sending the openside through a gaping hole in the Bath defence. The champions, who had declared their own intent on the opening weekend a year ago by knocking off then-holders Northampton at The Rec, had not yet turned up, though Tom Dunn soon shoved over from a meaty maul.
Evans, though, had a third soon enough, courtesy of an Alex Dombrandt offload off the deck. With Jack Kenningham in a typically busy and effective mood, and Chandler Cunningham-South a physical presence relocated a row further forward than usual, the quartet of England hopefuls remain an area of strength for new senior coach Jason Gilmore.
But Bath have a capacity to make teams pay quickly for failing to fully assert their advantage. With Cunningham-South dispatched to the sin bin for an offside tackle after a quick-tap, Vilikesa Sela first thundered through following a neatly worked move close to the line before fellow prop Beno Obano provided the finishing touches to a sustained series of phases that followed a searing Henry Arundell break.
A moment of misfortune soon piled problems on the home side. With starting hooker Jack Walker already forced off, Scotland international George Turner got his head on the wrong side of a tackle, ending his Prem debut early. Baxter was pressed into duties as an emergency lineout thrower, and a wobbly first effort was turned over; a few phases later, a glorious pass from Ojomoh allowed Arundell a try on his return.
Bath’s depth soon showed. While Harlequins had plenty of back row riches in their starting side, the visitors could bring England internationals Ted Hill and Sam Underhill off the bench, along with capped Welsh tighthead Archie Griffin – fourth choice, remarkably, at the position for his club. When veteran centre Chris Harris was introduced for the player for he had been signed as injury cover, it summed up Bath’s strength – and it was mightily pleasing to see Ollie Lawrence back from a torn achilles way ahead of schedule.
Underhill and Griffin snared scores five and six, and though Kenningham earned Quins a bonus point and Tyrone Green crossed later on, Arundell’s second meant Bath were long since out of sight.
