Hooper: We gave it away at the end

FORMER Bath centre Ben Tapuai made a triumphant return to the Rec.

He said: “It was too close for our liking but credit to Nathan (Earle) for finishing it off.

“We had a great start and built a good platform but we went away from that and let them back in it.

“We were worried when we went eight points down but we just knew we had to return to our systems and it paid off.

“Alex (Dombrant) was class again, he’s still learning so there’s more to come and that is exciting as we have a number of talented youngsters.”

Bath’s general manager and their future director of rugby, Stuart Hooper, said: “We are very disappointed to lose right at the end but the Premiership is so tight, you can’t afford to be only one score up going into the final minutes.

“The boys will be gutted to lose that last line-out.

Giving Quins a 14-point start is difficult but we recovered to play through them but we then gave it away,” Bath’s director of rugby, Todd Blackadder said: “We had great self-belief to come back and I thought Zach Mercer, was outstanding.”