Bath 42-26 Gloucester result - Hosts pull away in second half after try glut to go clear at top of Gallagher Premiership

Second-half tries from substitutes Will Stuart and Sam Underhill saw Bath pull away from Gloucester in the West Country derby after both sides secured bonus points before the break.

Bath’s superior power off the bench was crucial after a highly entertaining first half which showcased the sublime skills of both No. 10s, Finn Russell of Bath, and Gloucester’s Santiago Carreras - who will make the move down the M5 to join his side’s rivals in the summer.

Bath took control early, scoring three of the first four tries with Guy Pepper, Max Ojomoh and Thomas du Toit scoring, with Jack Clement putting Gloucester on the board.

The Cherry and Whites came back, scoring three of the last four in the half, through Tomas Williams and Seb Blake, with Russell extending Bath’s lead, before Alfie Barbeary gave away a scrum five metres from his line, mistakenly kicking out thinking the half was over, and George Barton put the visitors within two points. The reason for the disparity being Will Muir blocking one of Carreras’ conversions.

Gloucester's cause was not aided by Christian Wade's early yellow card in the second half and Stuart's try came with them a man down, but when back on level terms they could not stop the power of the Bath replacements and Underhill dived over for the sealer in his first game back from an ankle injury.

Bath are now six points clear of second-place Bristol, with Gloucester just out of the top four on points difference in fifth, a full 15 points behind the leaders.

Alfie Barbeary insists his coach Johann van Graan did not blank him but winked as he walked past in the dressing room, after his error allowed The Cherry and Whites the chance to bring the scores within two points before half-time.

Barbeary kicked the ball out of bounds behind his goal thinking it was the last play ahead of the break, but instead Gloucester got a scrum and turned it into a try.

It appeared his coach blanked him during the interval, but the Bath man insisted that was not the case.

"He winked at me as he walked past," Barbeary said on TNT Sports.

"I couldn't leave that being the last thing I did before I came off.

"As we won we can all laugh about it now."

"We spoke all week about how it wouldn’t be perfect, coming back from the Six Nations, but we just said make sure we stayed in it," player of the match Pepper told TNT Sports.

"It showed in the first half we gave away a few soft tries.

"We just said let’s back our power and go at them.

"It was attritional, a bit stop-starty but we just stuck to our game plan and executed."

The high-powered bench helped them pull away in the second half.

But it was clearly a forward pass early in the move.

This time as Gloucester throw wide in desperation Carreras loses control of the ball, knocking forward.

A fine pass from Ojomoh to allow Schreuder a line break but Russell supporting him fumbles the pass inside.

It goes without saying Russell is perfect with the kick.

Pepper with a clear out sets up the chance for Underhill to dive over for a popular try.

And Hathaway loses the ball to give Bath a scrum, as we enter the last ten minutes.

He played a good first twenty minutes in the second half before coming off though.

A Glouceser attack is stifled as Underhill holds up Hathaway and now Bath have a scrum.

He catches the ball and flings it back to Carreras before getting it back and taking the ball into a ruck. Williams then kicks clear and Glooucester are now back to 15 aside.

Some breathing room for Bath with Russell's successful conversion.

The Bath maul rolled toward the line and then from close range he picked up the ball from the ruck and piled over.

And Bath kick to the corner once more. They need to hold on for another two minutes until they are on level terms in terms of personnel.

He spots there is no winger on the left wing and kicks with the inside of his foot and the ball runs away from Barton into touch.

Fantastic defence from Ackermann and Ludlow sees Bath fail to take advantage. They could have had a walk in try if they passed wide.

Russell wants to manipulate the Gloucester defence with a man down.

Wade is given a yellow card for foul play denying Bath a try. They opt to tap and go from five metres out.