Carreras magic lights up Bath win over Harlequins

The Prem

Harlequins (10) 17

Tries: Porter, Cunningham-South, Delgado Cons: Slevin

Bath (28) 33

Tries: Du Preez, Cokanasiga, Carreras, Frost, Richards Cons: Russell 4

A terrific try from full-back Santiago Carreras was the highlight of Bath's opening night 33-17 bonus-point victory over Harlequins.

The Argentina international intercepted a Tyrone Green pass with his boot, kicking the ball into the air and collecting it one-handed before it went out of play and smoothly accelerating away to score under the posts in a real moment of magic.

Dan du Preez, Joe Cokanasiga and Dan Frost added first-half tries for Bath who led 28-10 at the break, with Will Porter and Chandler Cunningham-South replying for Quins.

Pedro Delgado reduced the gap to 11 points early in the second half but Ewan Richards' late try ensured it would be Bath who started the new season with a win.

The new Prem season presented both sides with the opportunity to move on from their respective disappointing ends to the last campaign, with Quins finishing down in ninth and Bath's hopes of defending their title ending in a surprise home play-off defeat to a rejuvenated Exeter Chiefs.

Bath took the lead during the game's first spell of sustained pressure in the 12th minute. When Quins stopped the initial line-out catch and drive, Bath number eight Du Preez powered over to ensure a try-scoring start after his move from Sale.

But the hosts hit back through a mix of good fortune and quick-thinking from scrum-half Porter. As Quins lost control of the ball on their own line-out, the pacy Porter picked up the loose ball and raced away to score.

Winger Cokanasiga grabbed Bath's second after sprinting through a gaping gap in the Quins defence following a breakdown and Finn Russell's second conversion made it 14-5 after 20 minutes.

Back came Quins again as Oscar Beard won the aerial contest when Bath tried a cross-field kick and fed debutant fly-half Connor Slevin on the wing, and the man standing in for the injured Marcus Smith passed back inside to England back rower Cunningham-South to cross the whitewash.

Then came the early try-of-the-season contender from Carreras, who stood in Green's passing lane just inside his own 22, before prodding his boot out to intercept and expertly gather the loose ball to score.

Bath showed the grit to go with the glamour as their pack splintered the Quins forwards in first-half added time with hooker Frost the beneficiary. Russell made it four kicks from four to put Bath 28-10 up at half-time.

Delgado crossed from close range and Slevin slotted his first conversion after 45 minutes but the home side were reduced to 14 men when replacement hooker Sam Riley was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Beno Obano just three minutes after coming on.

Bath failed to add to their advantage during Riley's time off the pitch but did grab a fifth try with another maul after 71 minutes and this time it was replacement second row Richards who was the scorer.

Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan speaking to BBC Radio Somerset:

"I thought we started really well. I think we managed the first half really well and to go into the changing room up, away from home, in your first league game, that's something we were really happy about.

"We stuck to our DNA, we were tough to beat and ultimately we've got to be happy with that performance. Loads of things to work on but we'll take an away win in round one. We had loads of opportunities.

"Importantly we didn't give them a bonus because one point is the biggest and smallest margin as who knows what will happen at the back end with points difference."

[On Carreras' try] "That was pure magic. He's been on fire and I'm so glad for him. That might be the try of the season in round one. The kick, the regather, the pace, I loved that moment and it was certainly the moment of the game."

Harlequins: Green; Anderson, Beard, Bradley, Murley (c); Slevin, Porter; Hobson, Walker, Delgado, Dun, Browne, Kenningham, Evans, Cunningham-South.

Replacements: Riley, Wenger, Johnson-Holmes, Treadwell, Petti, Friday, Bellamy, Isgro.

Sin-bin: Riley (53)

Bath: Carreras; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Ojomoh, De Glanville; Russell, Carr-Smith; Obano, Frost, Stuart, Hill, Ewels (c), Bayliss, Underhill, Du Preez.

Replacements: Tuipulotu, Kirk, Griffin, Richards, Pepper, Van der Linde, Redpath, Reid.

Referee: Karl Dickson