Team Bath dominate in win over Leeds Rhinos

Rhinos starting centre Jade Clarke took the first centre pass of the fixture and instantly the ball was in Team Bath's hands, which as a team they converted alongside their own centre pass to commence the game with a two goal lead.

Brie Grierson started the game strong, concreting the connection between herself and Donnell Wallam. Once again on consecutive centre passes Grierson fed ball into the circle from the centre line confidently finding Wallam under the post. Dixon got herself on the score board with a long range shot and after an attacking contact from Bath's Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, Wallam converted another to bring the game to four-all.

Rhinos overcooked the next few passes on the feed into Wallam which rattled the confidence of the feed in.  Bath took these balls to goal and edged out in front.  Rhea Dixon drove the base line on multiple occasions and successfully added to her goal tally, Wallam also tipped a missed shot into the net seamlessly.

Clarke was called for a held ball on the centre pass but Tuaine Keenan came out with an impressive turnover which was smoothly transitioned down to the attacking third however Bath also turned over the ball which they then went on to convert.

On the following centre pass Keenan again turned over another ball after reading the next pass within Bath's strong attacking transition and Dixon took this to goal. Wallam scored the final goal of the quarter, just leaving enough time for Bath to be forced to take the next centre before the final whistle. The final quarter ended 14-11 to Team Bath.

Entering the second quarter Dan Ryan was the first to make on court changes with Fi Toner entering the court at Wing Defence. Dixon drove into the circle at speed gaining ground and added to Rhinos goal tally. Bath forced Rhinos off the sideline and converted to goal.  They then converted their own centre pass and gained another turnover, taking a run of three goals to extend their lead to 17-12.

Rhinos showed patience on their next transition and took ball to goal. Bath’s tight defensive structure as a team again saw them turnover ball with Borger successfully converting. Now having an eight goal lead Team Bath showed no signs of slowing down with a lead of 21-13.

Again Rhinos were patient with the ball and added another goal to their tally. Dan Ryan made further changes to the on court, with Paige Kindred entering at Goal Defence to replace Vicki Oyesola.

Rhinos regained confidence on the feed into the circle and allowed Wallam to add to their list of goals, however, after a breaking call against Rhinos, Bath continued to extend their lead. In the final few seconds again Wallam scored the last goal of the quarter but it was Team Bath who had extended their lead to 12 goals with the half time score 31-19.

At half time Fi Toner explained that Rhinos needed to look after themselves first and that the turnovers would then come, too many unforced errors were being made and they needed to take their own. Bath's Eboni Usuro-Brown described her team's performance as a full group performance and they were looking for more of that in the second half.

Clarke commenced the second half with the first centre pass and Wallam quickly took the ball successfully to goal. Dan Ryan had made further changes for the second half returning to the starting seven at the start of the fixture.

Rhinos showed their rediscovered confidence on the feed into the circle but the game remained a 12-goal game. Another breaking call against Rhinos allowed Bath to build on their lead. Oyesola continued to fly for ball and put her body on the line, but unfortunately was unable to maintain possession of the ball. A continued strong defensive pressure from Team Bath saw more hesitancy creep in for Rhinos.

Dan Ryan made additional changes in this quarter by adding in Sienna Rushton at goal attack. Instantly Rushton applied defensive pressure allowing Clarke to turn over ball, although Rushton converted  Bath continued to display a strong performance and now held a 14 goal advantage. Jade Clarke ended the quarter with a warning and Bath ended the third quarter with a 15 goal lead.

Rhinos started the final quarter with real intent, finishing strong and playing to the final whistle. Team Bath continued to show strong defensive pressure despite the changes made in their defensive unit. Rhinos made a turnover and took the ball to goal, bringing the game back to a 15 goal game.

Dixon fell short on a shot which Bath rebounded and then converted. Dan Ryan made more changes to the on court team with Kindred returning to court at Goal Keeper for Keenan. Confidence was regained from Dixon with two impressive feed into Wallam. Team Baths Goal Keeper for the final quarter, Summer Artman, picked up a caution, which was then a couple of minutes later escalated to a warning. Wallam performed one of her (virtual) crowd pleasing lay ups but the combinations between Rhinos units were not strong enough to bring back the game.

After an attacking contact against Rhinos and another converted centre pass from Bath, Summer Artman was handed a 2 minute suspension which saw her see the game out sat on the sideline. Rhinos took full advantage of the new six player Bath side and easily fed ball into the circle, again Wallam took the last goal of the quarter however Bath convincingly took the game 59-43.

Player of the Match went deservingly to Team Baths Layla Guscoth. Dan Ryan remained composed and positive after this defeat and gave full credit to Bath. He described Rhinos as not being able to match the high performance from Bath and couldn’t fit in their own performance due to that of Bath's. Rhinos expected a physical and ferocious game against top of table and were not disappointed, they faced a very good group which disconnected their team performance.

Rengen Player of the Match: Layla Guscoth (Team Bath Netball).

Match report provided by Leeds Rhinos / Tyler-Sue Chapman.