Donald stars in Bath win
Stephen Donald enjoyed a dream start at Bath as he helped them to a 16-13 Heineken Cup victory over Montpellier.
By Simon Dilger
Last Updated: 20/11/11 5:12pm
Stephen Donald enjoyed a dream start to his Bath career as he helped his new side to a 16-13 Heineken Cup victory over Montpellier at the Rec.
Donald played a pivotal role in his first appearance for the club since scoring New Zealand's winning points in the World Cup final last month.
The All Black set up two tries inside the first 20 minutes and, although less fluent with the boot, was hugely influential during the encounter.
Montpellier fought back hard in the second half, with winger Martin Bustos Moyano scoring a 46th-minute try as well two penalties (one during the first half) and a conversion.
Donald booted the West Countrymen into an early lead in the fourth minute after Montpellier were pinged for not rolling away at the breakdown.
And just four minutes later, as the hosts attacked down the centre inside Montpellier's 22, the Kiwi pivot saw space on the right to set up the first try with a brilliantly orchestrated move.
Pressure
As the French defence was drawn in, Donald fired a floated cut-out pass to winger Olly Woodburn, who scampered over unopposed in the corner.
The fly-half was denied the extras by the right post but that did little to slow down his turbo-charged debut and 10 minutes later he was right at the centre of the action again.
Donald struck just as Montpelier began to find their feet and started to exert some pressure on the home side, grabbing a superbly-judged interception and racing 80 metres upfield to set up Bath's second.
He was brought down inches short of the line but his offload to Stuart Hooper found its way into the hands of David Flatman who barged over for a rare try.
Donald missed his second conversion and moments later the visitors were hit again when his opposite number Francois Trinh-Duc was sin-binned.
Winger Martin Bustos Moyano put Montpellier's first points on the board after 26 minutes with a fine long-range penalty from the half-way line to make it 13-3.
That scoreline remained until the break, but just three minutes after the restart Donald extended Bath's lead by three with a penalty of his own.
Magnificent
But Montpellier were beginning to look a more potent attacking force and their reply was swift, as they piled on the pressure in the Bath 22.
A try finally came when the visitors fired the ball out quickly to exploit a three-man overlap on the left, Thibault Privat delivering the scoring pass to Bustos Moyano.
The winger made it 16-10 with the conversion of his own try and five minutes later struck another magnificent kick to take his side to within three points of their hosts.
Montpellier continued to take the game to Bath and the home side were finding themselves increasingly under pressure as the match entered its final 10 minutes.
Olly Barkley missed a valuable opportunity to stretch the lead three minutes from time when he sent a penalty attempt wide from out on the left.
But it did not matter as Bath were able to hang on for a vital win, although without man-of the match Donald it may well have been a different story against the plucky Heineken Cup newcomers.
