The Mirror rugby correspondent believes the remarkable performances of English clubs in Europe signals brighter times ahead under Eddie Jones
Daylight had long gone when George Ford was thrown the ball and placed it on a kicking tee just inside the left touchline.
Seven o’clock on a Sunday night is a dreadful time to be playing rugby, particularly European Cup matches of such magnitude.
Countryfile is in full swing on BBC One and parents up and down the land are busy pulling school uniforms out of the ironing pile in readiness for a new week.
For Bath, though, this was also an opportunity to start anew.
A wealthy club with a star-studded squad, they have been poor this season.
Failure to beat Wasps in Coventry would have left them with a mountain to climb in Europe as well as in the Premiership, where they languish in ninth spot.
With the scores level, courtesy of Anthony Watson’s last-gasp try, Ford coolly slotted the conversion. With that act Bath’s world became an altogether brighter place.
They moved to within two points of Wasps – who had been odds-on to win the group after trouncing Leinster and Toulon in the first two rounds – and they face them again in the return match at home this Saturday.
“It was a sense of relief in terms of being happy for the boys,” said Ford.
“People had said we have been found out as a team, but that’s absolutely ludicrous. We have had opportunities to win every game bar Quins at home.”
Ah, those fine margins about which we hear so much in sport.
The facts of the matter were that until their late, late rally at the Ricoh Arena, Bath were strangers to the feel-good factor swirling around English rugby post World Cup.
In the league they had won only two of six matches, while in the Champions Cup they were heading for only the third defeat suffered by English sides in three European rounds.
When you consider that England has not been able to boast the champion club of Europe since Wasps triumphed in 2007, the transformation this season has been remarkable.
Halfway through the pool stages Saracens, Leicester and Wasps lead their respective groups, with Exeter joint top of theirs alongside Ospreys.
The only haven from English dominance is Pool 3, where Dan Carter’s Racing 92 lead the way.
Racing’s start has been the more impressive for the fact that the other French clubs have failed to turn up. Toulouse have been dreadful whilst Clermont, Toulon and Stade Francais have all tasted defeat.
The state of play in Ireland is little better. Three-time winners Leinster are already out after three defeats, while Munster will go the same way if they lose at Leicester on Sunday.
It is quite something for English clubs to be bossing Europe so soon after the overwhelming disappointment of the national team’s humiliation in their own World Cup.
There is plenty of time for these ambitions to unravel, of course. Either Bath or Wasps must lose this weekend, whilst Northampton (against Racing), Exeter (at Clermont) and Leicester (versus Munster) will be tested to the full.
But right now, new England boss Eddie Jones must feel like a kid with the keys to the sweet shop.
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