10-man Gloucester edge Bath 23-5 to stay top as Carreras and Pepper face injury scans

Gloucester held off a relentless Bath onslaught to win 23-5 at Kingsholm on Friday night, recording their first victory over their West Country rivals at that ground since 2022 and maintaining their place at the top of the Gallagher Premiership. The result left Bath with three consecutive defeats and 126 points conceded across that run.

The win was built on sheer resilience. Gloucester conceded 22 penalties and had Ollie Thorley, Ciaran Knight and Will Joseph all sin-binned, leaving them down to 13 men at one stage. Bath dominated territory and possession in the first half, being held up over the line on at least three occasions without scoring.

Freddie Thomas and Max Llewellyn crossed for Gloucester’s tries, with fly-half George Barton converting both and adding three penalties. Bath’s only score came through Kepueli Tuipulotu.

Head coach George Skivington was candid about how close his side came to capitulating. “Everything that could go against us tonight did as we were pinged off the park and went down to 13 men so we were just hanging in there,” he said. “Bath had opportunity after opportunity to score but despite having everything thrown at us, they never let it faze them and we never looked like throwing the towel in.”

Skivington acknowledged the performance was far from polished. “It wasn’t our best performance as we weren’t accurate enough, but the resilience and character of the squad got us over the line.”

Bath’s evening took a further blow when internationals Santi Carreras and Guy Pepper were both forced off with injuries. Director of Rugby Johann van Graan confirmed both players face scans, and expressed particular concern over Carreras. “Both Santi and Guy will have scans so it’s too early to assess, but in Santi’s case I’d be amazed if it wasn’t bad news,” he said.

Van Graan pointed to a disallowed try early in the second half, when Bath trailed only 9-5, as the pivotal moment. “Our plans to get over the line are working but we’ll have to work harder at how we get the ball to the floor,” he said, adding that he remained broadly optimistic despite the run of poor results. “I’m still pretty calm as parts of our game are really going well but we need to score tries to build pressure.”

Bath now face an urgent review of their injury situation ahead of a demanding schedule, while Gloucester will look to consolidate their position at the summit of the Premiership.