Bath: (10) 34 Tries: Higgins 3, Maddock Cons: James 4 Pens: James 2
Bath's Joe Maddock challenges for the line
Andrew Higgins scored a hat-trick of tries to secure a hard-fought victory for Bath over struggling Worcester.
The former Worcester player's third try from close range in injury time secured a bonus point for his side.
Worcester looked like causing a shock when two quick-fire first-half tries by Chris Latham and Loki Crichton gave them a 14-10 interval lead.
But Bath quickly regained the initative with Higgins's second try and Joe Maddock and Higgins again made it safe.
Despite missing 10 first-team regulars, including key backs Nick Abendanon, Alex Crockett and Matt Banahan who were all struck down with a sickness virus that swept their squad in midweek, Bath kept their composure to stay on course for the play-offs.
Maddock benefitted when Shontayne Hape made ground through the middle and drew Latham in before passing out for the score.
Though Willie Walker, signed on loan from Gloucester for the rest of the season, landed a penalty with his first kick for Worcester, he was off-target with a kickable second that would have put pressure on Bath.
Instead Higgins scored again in injury-time and James put over the conversion to maintain his 100 per cent kicking record and finish on 14 points.
Worcester director of rugby Mike Ruddock:
"In the first half we were fantastic when we came back from an interception try. I thought our defence was fantastic and I said to our boys at half-time that if we could keep up that intensity we could win the game.
"Unfortunately we didn't. We dropped off a couple of tackles and made a couple of individual errors that let them in.
"Bath are a great rugby side, they are a dangerous side, they looked very sharp, they play some good back rugby and they are very difficult to defend against."
Bath head coach Steve Meehan:
"It is our best performance after a break in the last three seasons.
We weren't perfect, but we played the full 80 minutes and scored the fourth try.
"Bonus points are very important in this competition. That finishes a very good week of training and we have achieved everything and more that we set out to."
Worcester: Latham, Gear, Rasmussen, Crichton, Garvey, Carlisle, R. Powell, Mullan, Lutui, Tuamoepeau, Rawlinson, Bowley, T. Wood, Sanderson, Horstmann. Replacements: Grove for Latham (72), Walker for Carlisle (56), M. Powell for R. Powell (56), Fortey for Lutui (68), Morris for Tuamoepeau (72), Gillies for Rawlinson (74), Talei for T. Wood (56).
Bath: Maddock, Stephenson, Hape, Fuimaono-Sapolu, Higgins, James, Claassens, Flatman, Dixon, Bell, Harrison, Hooper, Beattie, Scaysbrook, Browne. Replacements: Cheeseman for Hape (79), Berne for Fuimaono-Sapolu (77), Bemand for Claassens (70), Hawkins for Dixon (76), Jarvis for Bell (70), Goodman for Scaysbrook (74), Faamatuainu for Browne (58).
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?