The Blues saw their LV= Cup hopes all but ended across the Severn Bridge but a young and inexperienced side showed plenty of promise against a powerful Bath outfit who are now guaranteed a semi-final spot.
Dan Fish scored the Blues’ solitary try late on to narrow the gap after Bath had bagged a bonus point, with Pontypridd fly-half Simon Humberstone slotting two first-half penalties and a conversion.
The Blues created plenty more half chances despite the wet and windy weather in the West Country, though, and attack coach John saw enough to suggest that his side are moving in the right direction, both in the short term and in the long run.
“We’re disappointed to have lost that game. There were a lot of good things in it but not enough to make it a win,” said John.
“We created chances but we didn’t finish them off. It was nice to score at the end to get us up to 13 points but 10 minutes before that it could have been a six-point game. It’s disappointing to get into those situations and not capitalise on them.
“The endeavour was there and so was the intent to attack space but we’ve got be more clinical and cut out the errors at critical times. If we’d have done that, it would have been a little bit closer than the final scoreline.
“That’s possibly down to inexperience and possibly it’s down to not being used to being in those situations. But you haven’t got to do anything special at the top level – you’ve just got to do the basics really well and everything else takes care of itself.”
The Blues fielded the likes of Academy front row Callum Lewis and debutant Ben Roach in their 23-man squad for the third installment of Anglo-Welsh action, while flanker Ellis Jenkins captained the senior side for the first time.
To a man they all stepped up as far as commitment was concerned but John was most pleased with the attitude his young team showed in defeat: no one was content to have just pulled on the shirt, they all left bitterly disappointment not to have taken their chances and come away with a win.
“A lot of youngsters stepped up. We had a lot of boys playing their first game at that level and Ellis Jenkins was captaining the side for the first time at that level. He spoke up at the end and, fair play, he was cheesed off. He feels like that because we lost,” added John.
“It’s important that these boys are getting experience but they’ve got to learn from it, that’s the biggest thing. There are individuals who will be disappointed with the errors they made but hopefully they’ll have the opportunity to play next week at home against Harlequins and put things right.
“Our injury rate has been so high and a lot of these young boys are stepping up and doing a good job. That’s when you realise that strength in depth is what you need to have a good season.
“Now we need to start getting some momentum and picking up some results in the Rabo because that’s the bread and butter.”
