Redpath praise for cool Mills

Gloucester coach Bryan Redpath praised the composure of Ryan Mills after the teenager struck the decisive penalty in his side's 14-11 West Country derby victory over Bath at The Rec.

The 19-year-old replacement fly-half slotted the crucial three-pointer with just over 10 minutes remaining after Gloucester had relinquished their hold on a game which they had largely bossed.

Redpath praised the England Under-20 man, saying: "It's never an issue using Ryan in any big game. I was delighted for him, he has worked hard and today was a great reward."

He added: "It was about giving him a chance and he kicked well, he had one great high ball and chase on Olly Barkley, and he had a great kick at goal."

Redpath also heaped praise on prop Nick Wood, whose solid scrum presence and all-action showing in the loose made a mockery of England's decision to overlook his talents for their RBS 6 Nations squad.

"Nick was outstanding," he said. "His last two games have not been top notch, but outside of that over about 20-odd games, for him only to have two that haven't been up there is great. To finish off as he did today was good and his general enthusiasm was excellent."

Defeat for Bath means they face an uphill struggle for a semi-final berth, and also dented their bid for Heineken Cup qualification.

Rugby director Sir Ian McGeechan felt a below-par kicking game had proved decisive in their reverse.

He said: "I think at 11-all we had the momentum but unfortunately we made a couple of poor decisions kicking the ball out.

"What we needed was a good clearance from the kick off but we didn't get it, they ran it back at us and we never really got back out of our half from there. Their kicking game was more astute than ours today."