Bath's Anthony Watson: We have taken control of European Champions Cup Pool Five with Toulon win

Watson’s blinding pace and eye for a gap was too much for Toulon

Anthony Watson scored two fine solo tries (Getty)

Bath match-winner Anthony Watson said his club had taken control of Pool Five in the European Champions Cup after his superb pair of first-half tries set up a thrilling 26-21 win over fellow former winners Toulon.

Watson’s blinding pace and eye for a gap was too much for Toulon as he raced over for two solo scores to back up Bath’s opening try in 46 seconds by loosehead prop Beno Obano.

There were some sticky moments to follow for both teams and their respective goal-kickers Rhys Priestland and Francois Trinh-Duc in a nip-and-tuck struggle, but Bath are top of the group on points difference from Toulon now, with Welsh region the Scarlets just behind them.

Bath also have a better head-to-head record against the French maestros if that is needed to decide the quarter-final qualifier shakedown after rounds five and six are played in January.

Bath’s remaining fixtures at home to Scarlets and away to Treviso, both in January, offer the chance for the 1998 European champions to reach only their second quarter-final since 2009, and they will hope their win away to the Welsh region in the second round in October proves to have been pivotal.

Watson said: “It’s definitely in our hands to qualify now. All we have to do is win our two games.

“And for me it makes no sense if we don’t do it. It would really be a waste of time and of all the hard work against Toulon.

“We really put Toulon to the sword in the first 20 minutes but we need to do that to teams for the full 80 [minutes].

“My second try was proper under-11 rugby, I just went for the outside. It happened so fast, I couldn’t explain it to you. I saw the space and I took it.”

Watson said he had caught sight of England head coach Eddie Jones in the crowd on the big screens at The Rec but the flyer who tends to play on the wing for his country and at full-back for his club added: “It doesn’t matter if he’s actually at the ground, as he’s always watching so it doesn’t make a difference.”

As to Watson’s best position, with Jones tending to prefer Harlequins’ full-back Mike Brown in the No.15 jersey to date, the Bath man explained: “Eddie says I am definitely in the back three, and it’s interchangeable. I’m sharpening up all the tools I can at full-back at Bath, and if I go on the wing with England, so be it. When I’m at Bath I definitely prefer full-back.

“The boys here are delighted but it’s important we back this up when we play Scarlets.

“We really put Toulon to the sword in the first 20 minutes but we need to do that to teams for the full 80 [minutes].”

Man of the match Francois Louw, the South Africa flanker making only his fifth Bath appearance of the season, and the first since mid-October, said: “Coming off a close defeat last week it was pretty tough but credit to our guys for the defence. The important thing is we have the pool situation still in our own hands.”

And Louw’s compatriot Duane Vermeulen, of Toulon, said: “We kicked the ball to Bath and they took their opportunities but we’re still in the race.”

Toulon’s Argentinian back-rower Juan Fernandez Lobbe admitted winning the Champions Cup three seasons in a row between 2013 and 2015 had created its own pressure on the current team, for all the star quality of Chris Ashton, Ma’a Nonu, Mathieu Bastareaud and the rest.

“People expect us to win all the time,” said Lobbe. “Now we have had a couple of season in Europe when we didn’t manage to get where we wanted to be.

“For us the most important thing is to get into the quarter-finals. One thing we have in this team is big players who love to play big games.”