RUGBY: Play-offs probably out of reach, says Bath's Gold (From Wiltshire Times)

RUGBY: Play-offs probably out of reach, says Bath's Gold

9:00am Saturday 23rd March 2013 in Sport

BATH head coach Gary Gold admitted that their chances of reaching the Aviva Premiership top-four have all but ended after last night's 14-13 defeat to struggling Sale Sharks at the City of Salford Stadium.

The Manchester side went into half-time 9-3 up through the boot of Nick Macleod before Bath took the lead through Horacio Agulla's converted try.

However, Tom Brady touched down late on and, with London Welsh being deducted five points for fielding an ineligible player recently, the Sharks moved six clear of the Exiles.

Bath currently reside in seventh position, six points behind fourth-placed Northampton, with their rivals yet to play this weekend.

Gold said: "We came in here today setting ourselves goals and objectives to hopefully be in the top four. That's probably gone now but never say never.

"We'll probably be written off by everybody now so we've got a lot to prove."

Gold was also frustrated with the loss to the league's second-bottom club, particularly after Agulla's touchdown had taken them into the lead in the second half.

"It was incredibly frustrating," he added. "It was always going to be a game of very small margins. The character shown by the guys after being 9-3 down at half-time was good.

"It's difficult to say whether we were the masters of our own demise. Both lineouts struggled, a couple of calls went our way and a couple of calls went their way.

"I think there were a couple of basic things that we could have done better and our lineout could have functioned better."

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