European Champions Cup
Ford frustrated to miss bonus point
ESPN Staff
December 6, 2014
Bath's dominant pack earned a penalty try but a four-score bonus-point proved elusive © Getty Images
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Bath head coach Mike Ford was left frustrated as his side missed out on a four-try bonus point despite dominating their 30-5 win in Montpellier on Friday.

Under normal circumstances, such an emphatic victory in terrible conditions would have left Ford satisfied, but such was Bath's dominance and their need for points in competitive Pool 4, that their failure to score in the last half-hour left them disappointed.

"I thought we were excellent in the first half," said Ford. "We built a score and got a couple of tries right before the break and we were really on top. At the start of the second half we were playing really well and scored a great try in the corner.

"I unleashed the bench after 50 minutes and I thought we had enough time to get that bonus point. We are unbelievably frustrated that the game turned so scrappy. They put their subs on and the two huge props managed to get the balance of the game back in their favour. But at nine o'clock in the morning I would have taken a 3-0 win never mind a 30-5 win."

Bath welcome Montpellier - who are all but out of the competition after Friday's defeat - to the Rec next Friday before facing Toulouse and Glasgow in January. Ford accepted that Bath now need results between Toulouse and Glasgow - who have both won two from two - to go their way if they wanted to qualify for the tournament's knock-out stages.

"Of course we are disappointed because we need a bonus point because of where we are in the pool, but hopefully Glasgow and Toulouse can take points off each other and we can get a win next week. We need both Glasgow and Toulouse to win games, but not get bonus points - I know I'm asking for a lot but anything can happen. We will try and concentrate on ourselves first and hopefully have a good day at The Rec next Friday night.

"We need a bonus point next week and we will prepare well. We will pick a strong squad for sure and if we can get a good performance in and put ourselves in a decent position for January - we will look to get five points next week and see where that takes us."

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