Harlequins vs Bath match report: George Ford sends Bath into the play-offs

Harlequins 26 Bath 27

George Ford kicks a penalty for Bath against Quins (GETTY IMAGES)

If George Ford is good enough to run the England show at the forthcoming World Cup – and there is precious little evidence to the contrary – he is good enough to guide Bath to a Twickenham final. The outside-half’s perfectly struck long-range penalty six minutes from time sent his club into the play-offs and they are now in pole position to land themselves a home tie in the last four.

Bath travelled up the M4 – never a great trip on a Friday – insecure in the knowledge that ventures into Harlequins territory go wrong at least as often as they go right. The title challengers from the West Country were even more acutely aware that their opponents would bring an additional emotional charge to the game, thanks to the presence of the wing Ugo Monye and the lock George Robson, both of whom were bidding fond farewells to the home crowd after long years of service.

When Monye scored the opening try a mere six minutes into the contest – a sugar-sweet finish in the left corner after excellent approach work from Harry Sloan and Marland Yarde, maximised by a pinpoint 20-metre pass from Nick Evans – the visitors would have been less than human had they not feared the worst.

Sure enough, they reached the interval on the wrong side of the ledger. Francois Louw, their magnificent Springbok flanker, had given them a lead when, following Ford’s nerve-settling penalty, he put himself on the shoulder of the tackle-busting Leroy Houston and completed a fine score to the left of the sticks. But Quins responded boldly, first through an Evans three-pointer and then through a driving line-out, which Bath dragged to earth illegally at the cost of a penalty try.

It was no mean effort from the Londoners, who had already lost their England forward Nick Easter to an early smack on the head and then saw Robson cut short his big night by hobbling off with a leg injury. They had also forfeited their promising No 8 Jack Clifford for 10 minutes, his own illicit dabblings at a driven maul having been spotted by the referee Greg Garner.

Suitably galvanised, Bath started the second period at a rattle, the Argentine wing Horacio Agulla cutting a precise line through an uncharacteristically zoned-out Quins defence. But his score was cancelled out by a brace of Evans penalties and when the two sides exchanged tries of the seriously scruffy variety – Houston crossing from a ricochet, Monye claiming his second from a kick-through at a ruck – the tension level was high indeed.

The situation demanded a nerveless contribution from a high-class player. Ford was just the man for the job.

Scorers: Harlequins – Tries: Monye 2, Penalty try. Conversion: Evans. Penalties: Evans 3. Bath – Tries: Louw, Agulla, Houston. Conversions: Ford 3. Penalties: Ford 2.

Harlequins: O Lindsay-Hague; M Yarde, G Lowe, H Sloan, U Monye (C Walker 67); N Evans (B Botica 75), D Care; M Lambert (D Marfo 46), D Ward (R Buchanan 67), M Shields (S Adeniran-Olule 77), N Easter (C Matthews 5), G Robson (N Talei 38), L Wallace (Talei 31-36), C Robshaw (capt), J Clifford.

Bath: A Watson; H Agulla, J Joseph (O Devoto 63), K Eastmond, M Banahan; G Ford, P Stringer (C Cook 57); P James (N Auterac 51), R Batty (R Webber 54), D Wilson (M Lahiff 46), D Attwood, D Day (M Garvey 63), S Burgess (C Fearns 63), F Louw (capt), L Houston.

Referee: G Garner (Warwickshire).