Edinburgh fall short as Bath win semi-final showdown

Edinburgh Rugby's hopes of European glory were dashed at Hive Stadium on Saturday afternoon as Bath secured their place in the EPCR Challenge Cup Final with a 39-24 victory

The capital side trailed 10-12 at the break with Mosese Tuipulotu finishing a well worked first half score and then lead after the interval after the referee awarded a penalty try.

It was just a three-point game with 15 minutes to play as Ali Price wrestled over however Bath eventually powered to the win in the Scottish capital with two late tries.

The match started in frantic fashion with Ross Thompson then sending a penalty attempt crashing off the post and moments later Bath struck the first blow when Underhill crashed over from close range.

The visitors looked like they were settling into their stride until they were caught out by a quick line-out, which led to Tuipulotu going over and Thompson converting to level things up.

The home side were having to do most of the defending and the Bath power started to show. They were gaining ascendency in the scrum and hooker Dunn regained the lead when he dotted down after a strong rolling line-out maul.

Thompson kicked a penalty to keep Edinburgh within two at the break and they got their noses in front early in the second half.

They engineered an overlap out wide and Wes Goosen looked set to put Darcy Graham over in the corner until a cynical knock-on by Tom de Glanville. A yellow card for De Glanville, a penalty try and Edinburgh led 17-12.

Bath went back down the other end and hammered at the Edinburgh line. They went over through Beno Obano but a TMO intervention showed he had been held up and the try was ruled out.

The home side were under immense pressure and it was only a matter of time before their defence was breached. Dunn eventually went over for his second try, a carbon copy of his first after a powerful line-out maul.

The Premiership leaders were well on top now and substitute Barbeary dived over for their fourth try to give them a one-score cushion on the scoreboard.

Russell kicked three points to put Bath 10 points to the good, but just as the match appeared to be drifting away from the home side, they struck with a cracking try.

Thompson ghosted through a gap in the midfield and found Price running a great support line to beat the cover defence and scored to bring his side back within three.

The push to snatch a dramatic victory did not materialise from Edinburgh and Bath ultimately made their superiority count with late tries from substitute Annett and back-row Pepper to seal their spot in the Final.