The West Country outfit dominated large spells of the match and made their advantage pay through Nick Auterac, Matt Banahan and Nathan Charles. The hosts struggled to find their rhythm but finally crossed for a try in the final 10 minutes against thanks to Joe Thomas before Owen Watkin continued the late fight-back.
The first points of the afternoon came from the boot of Wales international Rhys Priestland, who landed a penalty from 40 metres out to punish the Ospreys for a high tackle. The visitors continued to dominate the opening quarter and got the first try of the afternoon through front-rower Auterac. The Ospreys coughed up possession close to their own line before the Premiership heavyweights flexed their muscles to shunt the prop over the line.
Priestland failed to add the extras but made up for his miss with a penalty before half-time to send Bath in at the break with an 11-0 lead. The Ospreys were aiming to mount a comeback in the second period, but it was Bath who edged further in-front. Former Ebbw Vale and Llanelli outside-half Josh Lewis landed a simple penalty from in-front of the uprights to make it 14-0.
And Steve Tandy’s men fell further behind after 49 minutes after a Matt Banahan score. Josh Lewis cut through the defensive line and fed Max Clark, who was stopped just short. But the hosts could not prevent the giant wing from barging over from close range.
Steve Tandy’s side turned into their own worst enemy when Bath hooker Nathan Charles picked off Luke Price’s loose pass inside 20 metres from the try-line to canter in for a try. Lewis was on-target with the conversion to take Bath 28 points clear.
But they finally got on the scoreboard with 10 minutes remaining thanks to Joe Thomas. Keelan Giles raced onto James Hook’s perfectly weighted kick over the top and put boot to ball himself. Levi Davis looked to have covered well but his error allowed Thomas to pounce and score. Hook converted before Owen Watkin crashed over moments before the final whistle. Hook was once again on-target but it was too little, too late as the Ospreys fell to their second defeat of pre-season.
