Friday Night - Will it be all right?

By Not-So-Fat-Gav on 31/12/2002
December 31 2002

Three consecutive league defeats and, call me a pessimist, but I have to admit to having a sneaky look at the league table and working out how may points we are ahead of the Falcons! Possibly not the best time to welcome to Headingley a team with three consecutive victories under their belts then...

Until a few weeks ago Bath were going through possibly their worst form of the professional era. In fact some were saying that, instead of being called Bath, a more appropriate name might have been "Shower" (arf, arf!) given the way they were playing. Fans were suggesting that the club chairman Andrew Brownsword (why does that name always make me titter? I suppose it's all in the pronunciation) might not be so keen on spending some of the money he made selling us cards pictured with fluffy teddies on their beloved Bath. Was the Chairman's "fluffy teddy" influence rubbing off on the players perhaps? Certainly the Australian coach Mike Foley, a World Cup winner as a player in 1999, hadn't managed to instil his "hard-bitten" approach since taking over from our own John Callard as coach. The low point had to be the home defeat to Bristol, the first at The Rec for a very, very long time in one of the oldest and bitterest rivalries in rugby.

The turning point, however, and Bath fans may or may not disagree with me, seemed to be the re-introduction of one Iain Balshaw on a cold night in Bridgend in a narrow defeat in early December. "Iain who?" I hear you ask? Come on, your memories can't be that short can they? This is the young man who made his debut as a fresh faced 18 year old in 1997, was the top try scorer in the ZP in 1999/2000, scored 6 tries in the 2001 6 Nations and, most memorably, chipped ahead for Dan Luger to score the winning try in injury time against Australia in November of last year. Not bad for a lad who is still only 23. Injuries meant that he had to sit out the first half of the season and personally I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Bath backs stuttered. Add to that the ongoing struggle of Mike Catt with a hamstring that seems to be made from Mozzarella cheese and "blood'n'guts" guys like Tindall and Maggs were struggling without the creativity inside and behind them. But Balshaw is such an incisive and quick runner he scored two tries in the return leg versus Bridgend to see them through to the next round of the PPC and scored what proved to be the winning try against Wasps in the Powergen Cup. Add to this another solid display against Harlequins in the ZP and Balshaw and Bath seem to be on a roll.

Bath are far from a one man team mind, and have International pairings in the second row with Steve Borthwick (anyone remember his 20 minute debut vs France before getting injured?) and Danny Grewcock, and in the centres with Mike Tindall (England) and Kevin Maggs (Ireland). Tom Voyce is another talented back (I won't mention Simon Danielli here for fear of raising the ire of the Bath fans!) and Adam Vander seems to be playing well wherever he plays in the back row. I’m expecting a tougher match at Headingley than the fixture between the two sides at The Rec earlier in the season when The Tykes got an away win courtesy of the boot of Braam Van Straaten despite being outscored by three tries to one.

Where I'm hoping Leeds will be able to put pressure on the visitors is in the front and back rows, where coach Foley seems not to have worked out his best combinations yet. Gallasso the former French prop seems to be short of his best form and hooker Humphreys seems to struggle in the second half of matches without an adequate replacement. The back row has chopped and changed with the two Thomas's, Nathan and Gavin (good name that is) mixing it up with Dan Lyle, James Scaysbrook and the aforementioned Vander. You can argue all you like about whether ours are better or not, but we know who our best players are in these positions and they are used to playing together (injury permitting). Another area where I'm hoping the boys can put pressure Bath is at half-back. Whilst Cooper and Barkley are by no means 'green', when they have the ball I would like to see our 'in yer face' defence so close to these guys that they will be able to tell if they have shaved that morning … remaining onside of course, ahem! I'm also hoping that Zac might decide to test these two with a few of his knee-pumping charges as well. I still go to bed the night before matches dreaming of a '4-try' bonus point as well. Last time I imagined them coming from two 5-metre scrums, a 2-metre lineout surge and a 15-metre rolling maul. See, even my sub-conscious has given up on four tries from out backs in one game! Just right now, I'd settle for that bonus point from four penalty tries if necessary. Ho-hum!

So there we have it, a Leeds side that is struggling to find their best form at home to Bath side just beginning to find theirs. It’s going to be close and I'm not even going to call it. Surely not another draw?

Finally, despite probably being Iain Balshaws’ biggest fan outside of Clive Woodward and Bath Rugby Club, that's where my charity ends. Iain, if you’re out there reading this mate, I hope you have a stinker on Friday!