Tigers 3, Bath 1 – Yellow cards that is...

Bath Away
By Tigerchick
September 11 2006

It was a bright, warm and sunny afternoon in Bath , the air filled with the promise of a thrilling battle between arch rivals Leicester Tigers and Bath Rugby. The air of expectancy from the Tigers fans for their boys to avenge their loss at the Walkers’ Stadium back in April.

The pitch at the Rec pitch was so lush and green I almost did a double take. Where was the muddy washed-out bog that I’d been used to seeing at Bath?

As promised, the two teams slugged it out for the first forty minutes, each replying to the others score within minutes. You could almost predict the next score - Bath penalty, Tigers penalty, Bath try, Tigers try and so it went for about 20 minutes before referee Pearson sin-binned Danny Grewcock (21 min) and Martin Castrogiovanni (23 min) for killing the ball.

And so it went, back and forth point for point. It was clear at the break that although Leicester had built a small lead of just 5 points, this game was not going to be over until the large lady burst into song.

It was a scrappy sort of a game, lots of stopping and starting and plenty of handbags to keep the crowd entertained. It was never going to be a well-behaved game – those who bore witness to the Heineken Cup Quarter Final couldn’t have expected anything less, although the referee didn’t help the proceedings pinging Tigers for every minor indiscretion.

Andy Goode had a terrific first half hitting the target for every attempt at goal and was only outshone by the terrific drop-goal from full-back, Sam Vesty. I saw it close-hand and didn’t think it would go through the posts!

Andy Goode’s first missed penalty of the day came just after the break, the ball bouncing off the post. Lewis Deacon the next victim of the referees yellow card, left the pitch in the 48th minute after being caught killing the ball. Some might say that Tigers were already feeling the pinch and killing the ball in a desperate bid to stay ahead.

With Deacon gone, Bath immediately scored. With a simple lineout (somewhere near the 5m line, too far away for me to see from the opposite end of the pitch) Borthwick caught the ball and a mass drive put Zak Feau’nati over.

It still seemed to be anyone’s game until about the 72nd minute, with the two fly-halves again trading penalties with apparent ease.

The turning point in the game was when Dan Hipkiss (a replacement for Henry Tuilagi, who himself was a replacement for Luke Abraham) was sin-binned for killing the ball yet again.

Bath replied with gusto and cruised over the line to score two incredible tries within a few short minutes (Abendanon and Maddock). Tiger’s game was already over when Hipkiss was binned but Bath twisted the knife further and earned themselves a well-deserved bonus point in the process.

What started as a scrappy but balanced and exciting game with both teams lacking a little on discipline, ended with Bath cruising to an apparently easy victory and the Tigers rather reminding me of toothless kittens. Our strength has always been in our bench and Saturday’s performance begs the question: Did Pat pick the wrong bench for this game??

Final score: Bath 43 – Tigers 25

Bath: Abendanon; Stephenson (Higgins 60), Berne, Barkley, Maddock; Malone, Walshe; Barnes, Mears (Hawkins 76), Bell , Borthwick (capt; Fidler 62), Grewcock, Short, Delve, Feau'nati

Tries: Borthwick, Feau'nati, Abendanon, Maddock
Con: Barkley
Pens: Barkley 6, Malone

Leicester: Vesty; Rabeni, Gibson (Hipkiss 59), Cornwell, Varndell; Goode, Bemand (F Murphy 65); Castrogiovanni (Ayerza 66), Chuter (Buckland 65), White, Hamilton, Kay (B Deacon ht), L Deacon, Abraham (H Tuilagi 60; M Smith 70), Corry (capt)

Try: Bemand
Con: Goode
Pens: Goode 5
Drop goal: Vesty

Referee D Pearson