MATCH REPORT: Harlequins 19 Bath Rugby 16
Bath Rugby missed out on a place in the Aviva Premiership play-offs in agonising fashion after a slender defeat at Harlequins at The Stoop on Saturday.
Both Bath and Quins finished the regular season on 67 points but it is the Londoners who claim fourth spot by virtue of a greater number of wins.
It is a heartbreaking end for Bath, who have been inside the top four for all but one week of the campaign and looked set to break the monopoly of the Premiership's established elite.
Quins, who started the day fifth, produced exactly the performance they needed to leapfrog the visitors in the standings and book a trip to table toppers Saracens in the semi-finals next weekend.
Despite their obvious disappointment, this season marks an enormous improvement on last term's seventh-placed finish and Bath can still end the season with silverware.
Head coach Mike Ford must now lift his troops for the Amlin Cup final against Northampton Saints at Cardiff Arms Park in two weeks' time.
With so much up for grabs it was not surprising that the game got off to a cagey start. Quins enjoyed plenty of possession without really threatening, while Bath could not capitalise on a quick break by George Ford, with the fly-half's chip ahead only finding the midriff of home full-back Mike Brown.
Quins eventually broke the deadlock after a quarter of an hour. The home side thundered the Bath line and scrum-half Danny Care threw a long looping pass wide to Brown, who outmuscled Anthony Watson to cross in the corner. Nick Evans added the extras.
But Bath responded within eight minutes as Ford scored a sensational solo try. Just as he did last Friday against Northampton Saints, the Bath fly-half danced his way through the opposition defence on the 22m line to sprint over the whitewash. Ford added the extras for good measure.
Quins thought they had hit back immediately as hooker Dave Ward dotted down from close range but after consultation with the TMO, referee Wayne Barnes deemed the final pass from scrum-half Care had been forward.
The home side missed out on another chance to get themselves ahead just after the half-hour mark. Bath were penalised at a scrum in their own half but Evans was unable to split the posts with what seemed a makeable kick.
Evans made no mistake when Bath next infringed in their own half five minutes before half-time. The fly-half fired over a penalty from right in front of the sticks to give his side the lead, which they held until the interval.
Bath drew level soon after the restart when a brilliant break from full-back Nick Abendanon yielded a penalty and Ford split the posts from 20m.
However, the visitors were soon stopped in their tracks when they were reduced to 14 men, with winger Matt Banahan sent to the sin-bin.
And Quins capitalised when Bath continued to infringe close to their own tryline, with home fly-half Evans firing over two penalties in quick succession.
Bath inched themselves back into the contest when Ford booted over a penalty but Dave Attwood was guilty of blocking upon the restart and Evans responded immediately.
But Quins then committed the same offence themselves and Ford brought the visitors back to within three points with ten minutes to go.
The hosts resolutely ground down the time in expert fashion in the closing stages and Bath saw little of the ball in the Quins half.
With time having elapsed, Ford tried to take matters into his own hands and worked himself into the pocket some 40m out but his drop goal attempt never threatened the posts and the fly-half and his team-mates quickly sunk to their feet as their play-off chances were dashed.HARLEQUINS: Brown, Williams, Molenaar, Turner-Hall, Monye (Smith 48), Evans (Botica 76), Care, Marler, Ward, Sinckler (Collier 77), Matthews, Robson (Kennedy 77), Fa'asavalu (Guest 53), Chris Robshaw (c), Easter. Replacements: Buchanan, Lambert, Dickson.Try: Brown Conversion: Evans Penalties: Evans 4BATH RUGBY: Abendanon (Rokoduguni 48), Watson, Joseph (Henson 76), Devoto, Banahan, Ford, Young (Stringer 22-27, 53), James, Guinazu (Dunn 13-25, 36), Wilson (Perenise 53), Hooper (c) (Day 62), Attwood, Fearns, Mercer (Fa'osiliva 58), Houston. Replacements: Orlandi, Henson.Try: Ford Conversion: Ford Penalties: Ford 3Referee: Wayne BarnesAttendance: 14,700
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