Bath v Tigers Match Preview
By ChrisC
April 15 2013
“Money, Money, Money.... ...must be funny in a rich man’s world” so went the chorus of the big 1976 ABBA hit “Money. Money, Money”.The description phenomena is bandied around to describe all sorts of acts that come and go like thieves in the night but at the time the success and reach of the Swedish band was indeed phenomenal.
While not personally a great fan their music provided a kitsch backdrop to the latter part of the 1970s and early 1980s even after all this time since their last performance, in December 1982, they remain one of the biggest selling acts having sold almost 400 million records. And they’re still selling, boosted lately by the hit musical “Mamma Mia” which I was dragged to see at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. It was an awful show and compared poorly to “Jersey Boys” that I’d seen a few days earlier.
“All the things I could do
If I had a little money
It's a rich man's world”
This could be the mantra of our sport these days. Tigers’ opponents last weekend; Wasps, who nearly went bankrupt have found a new multi-millionaire backer. Saracens have their billionaire South African. Sale have double glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy. Gloucester have Tom Walkinshaw’s son carrying on his father’s work at Kingsholm and of course Bath have the backing of Bruce Craig who’s just had to swallow almost three million pounds of losses made by the old west country club.
Looking across the English Channel it’s hard to understand how, even given that the salary cap for the Top 14 clubs is almost double that available to the English Premiership clubs, squads of such depth and quality can be assembled without breaching the cap.
The caps should be making the wealth of a club immaterial to some degree but the suspicion remains that some clubs are circumnavigating this limit. Money talks and no louder than when the Heineken Cup semi finalists are considered comprising as they do big spenders; Clermont Auvergne (Michelin), Toulon (comic book multi millionaire Msr. Boudjellal), Munster (IRFU) and England’s own Saracens (South African multi billionaire Johann Rupert).
But last Saturday Bath proved “money isn’t everything” so after I’d settled down for the more prosaic attractions of the Premiership, watching their trip to The Stoop, I felt that I’d wasted eighty minutes so turgid a match was it. Bath seem, under Gary Gold, to be trying to play a Saracens’ type game-plan but not doing it very well.
Bath never looked like scoring a try but again defended well, demonstrating why only Saracens and Tigers have conceded fewer tries in the competition. After a first half, when they looked poor, Quins picked themselves up thanks to a typical close range Danny Care try and then another from Monye after a performance from Woodburn and Cuthbert under a high ball that they should surely reprise for panto this year.
Mr Barnes meanwhile seemed to be a mildly interested observer as both sides fed the scrum, threw the ball in crooked, infringed at the breakdown, lost their binds, bored in, stood up, wheeled at will and, while I lost count, I think perhaps less than 10% of the numerous scrums were actually completed. Barnes did, now and again, make a token appearance and seemed to have learned a new word; “balance”. He used it a lot and if the respective front rows had any idea of what he was talking about they were masterly in disguising their comprehension. It was tedium on a grand scale for a neutral!
The following afternoon I crossed my fingers that I’d see some decent rugby and with hope springing eternal watched as Tigers welcomed Wasps to Welford Road.
It was all pretty routine for Tigers who’d rested a few key players and once the match was secured early on rested a few more.
Were the break in league competition for the Heineken Cup semi-finals not just a fortnight hence (odd that the league can’t have a break during the Autumn Internationals but can for the knock out phases of the Heineken Cup?!) there’d be more of a conundrum for Richard Cockerill as to who he should play and who he should rest for the final home match and the oncoming knock out cup.
With Saracens, having already secured a home spot in the knock out cup, surely likely to send a second string squad to Kingsholm as they prepare for their Heineken Cup match the following weekend, the likelihood for a full strength Gloucester to win at home must be high, assuming of course they pull themselves together after an abject display against Sale. If Tigers can get a five point win at The Recreation Ground and Saracens leave Castle Grim empty handed Tigers could go into the last round of league matches in top spot.
I don’t know how much topping the league matters to the players and coaches in these days of the knock out cup but I suspect quite a bit. Surely there’s nothing quite like demonstrating that over a twenty-two match league campaign with all its variables of international call ups, injuries, drops in form and varying climate your team is the best in the land.
Tigers need a few more points to secure their own home spot for the knock out cup and with a weekend off to come I’d hope and expect that Richard Cockerill will take the view “first catch your hare”.
Given the chaos that reigned in the scrum at The Stoop it’s hard to judge the effectiveness of the Bath pack but post Lee Mears it has looked a bit uncertain. Welsh international and ex Osprey Paul James had a difficult afternoon with James Johnston, until Mr Barnes had a change of heart and started penalising the Samoan, even though James had joined the big Quins’ tight-head in abandoning the concept of legal binding. That aside I didn’t think James looked fully fit. The Welsh prop will join England international David Wilson who in turn had his hands full with England colleague Joe Marler but did well enough and carried with great determination.
With Rob Webber presumably rested Ross Batty got his first Premiership start of the season but while he showed some promise I rather liked the look of new signing the Argentinian; Eusebio Guinazu who’s just a arrived after a brief sojourn in Toulouse en route from Biarritz .
He’s been around a bit has our Eusebio having also had spells with Super 14 side Stormers, Boland Kavaliers, Agen and of course Toulon for whom he made 18 starts at prop. It wasn’t until he moved to Agen that he began plying his trade at hooker, the position in which he now plays for his country.
I would have thought, given the strength of Tigers’ front row that Guinazu would be a likely starter alongside James and Wilson.
Tom Youngs was rested from the Tigers’ front row against Wasps and Rob Hawkins had a good reliable outing. Hawkins’ presence holds no fears for me but I expect that, if fit, Tom Youngs will be on duty next Saturday, joining Dan Cole and Mulipola. Once I always wondered whether Castrogiovanni would get the start but his performances have been very below par of late and it saddens me to think that his illustrious Tigers’ career could fizzle out in mediocrity.
I think that there’ll be little change for the hosts’ front row at scrum time, assuming of course that this week’s referee can be bothered to manage it and the Bath front row will have to be nearer to the mark when making their tackles.
Dave Attwood returned at The Stoop from a brief absence and was the pick of the Bath forwards looking at his Gloucester best while Hooper, although he worked his socks off, didn’t look particularly effective so I expect to see ex Scarlet and Welsh Under 21 international; Dom. Day restored. Attwood and Day should be a potent combination in the set piece and the loose, where Attwood was particularly notable last weekend.
Geoff Parling was another Tiger getting a breather after the exertions of the south of France but I expect to see him restored alongside the increasingly impressive Ed Slater who was one of a number of players (Allen, Salvi and Tait) who could have bagged the Man of The Match accolade against Wasps. It’ll be hard on Graham Kitchener who was also ever present, again showing his pace when scoring his second try of the season.
If Day is indeed restored then I think the contest at the line out could be closer but still likely to favour the visitors. With Tom Croft another having a break Steve Mafi stepped up and was a pest at the line out and once he’d given way to Thomas Waldrom at half time the Tigers’ lineout faltered a little. Croft is reported to be rested rather than injured so could be back for the trip out west but if it’s Mafi continuing his own return from injury I won’t be rending my raiment.
Matt Gilbert wore the Bath #7 shirt against Quins but looked to be playing at #8 for much of the time with veteran international #8 Simon Taylor, who astonishingly made his debut for Scotland way back in November 2000 against the USA, seeming to be on the blindside. The Scot still tackles like a Dervish but his old running game seems to have waned with the passing years. Springbok Francois Louwe was notionally on the blind side but seemed to play much of the match on the open-side. All very odd. I wonder if I imagined it? If not, why the subterfuge?
In any event I thought Gilbert played well, running around like a Duracell Rabbit, otherwise the Bath back row looked a little out of sorts when it came to attacking ideas although as usual they defended well.
Due to Mr Barnes not having much interest in the breakdown Bath were able to slow down Quins’ ball and deny them the oxygen that their preferred playing style requires. Unless we are to be consigned to another “bore-fest” I hope that next Saturday the match officials are more engaged with this aspect of the game.
An ex Bath open-side; Julian Salvi had another excellent outing which will surely add to his claims on Tigers’ “Player of the Year” award and with Jordan Crane now emulating his competitor for the #8 shirt; Thomas Waldrom, with offloads, kicks, side steps and all manner of fancy-dan antics, coupled with Steve Mafi’s athleticism, the Tigers back row should be a match for the home side who’ll need to be on their defensive mettle at the breakdown where Tigers have well and truly got their act together.
Overall then it’s hard for me to see anything other than an advantage for the visitors when it comes to the packs.
Behind a disrupted pack Michael Claassens struggled in south west London as he winds down his Bath career before moving to France at the end of the season. I expect he’d liked to have had better service from his #8. Against Ben Youngs I rather expect Irish itinerant scrum half Peter Stringer will start again, after first checking that Neil Back isn’t on the open-side for Tigers!
Stringer’s a real veteran; now 35 years old he made his debut for Munster in October 1998 when they were beaten in by USAP in France. He has just what Bath need with all that experience and while his playing days are numbered I think he’s better equipped for the slow ball that he’s likely to get from his forwards.
Ben Youngs looked sparky against Wasps in getting his brace of tries and while at times he still does that odd little lateral run that seems without purpose he looks to be on good form and in good spirits so he’ll be looking forward to the contest with Stringer, especially as the Englishman is likely to have the better platform.
He’s an enigma is Stephen Donald. He can’t be accused of lack of effort but given that he’s not an especially great kicker he seems distinctly ill suited to the Gold game plan. I’ve obviously not seen as much of the World Cup winning fly-half as the Bath faithful but I just have this “if only” feeling about him. Sometimes his skills are sublime and other times grim. I actually have some doubts that he’s been fully fit for much of the time he’s been here.
If Donald isn’t suited by the Gold game plan then young Tom Heathcote certainly is and when he came on late in proceedings he and Stringer seemed able to conjure momentum for their outside backs that their predecessors couldn’t. It’d be an odd circumstance were the talented Scot to be relegated behind the currently unimpressive George Ford.
Toby Flood had a difficult first ten minutes against Wasps and on another day his misses with his latterly reliable boot could have been very costly. However he stuck to the challenge and overall it was an assured and mature performance from the club skipper elect.
Flood’s ability to play flat could be the undoing of Bath if they have to persist with their makeshift centres. Kyle Eastmond is at inside centre these days partnered by Agulla or Rokoduguni now that Bath have; Hipkiss, Banahan and Ben Williams all counted out with injuries. Although I’m sure I saw Williams involved with the squad on Saturday so maybe he’s close to being available. I’m a little surprised that Gold hasn’t put Vesty at inside centre or even moved Donald there so that Eastmond can be retained out wide where he’s a threat he’s not in the claustrophobic confines of the #12 shirt. And he looks uncomfortable defensively with big forwards charging down on him opening holes as wide as Cheddar Gorge.
Tony Allen was splendid until he was rested later on. His tackling was of its usual high standard and he seemed to be able to break through the Wasps’ defence at will. It was a concern that once he went off Tigers rather lost their shape defensively and struggled to get in behind the opposition, so it’s to be hoped that Allen is fit as I think he’d have a productive afternoon if he faces Eastmond who himself went off with a knock.
Fijian Semesa Rokoduguni is having a break from all that marching about with the Army and is on parade at outside centre to alleviate Bath’s injury crisis. I thought him pretty impressive against London Welsh, when he was on the wing, scoring one try and making a second.
He’ll need to shackle Manu Tuilagi and Tuilagi likewise the big Fijian
Out wide Tom Biggs sent a sick note and how Bath missed his attacking threat. The ex Leeds winger also sounds doubtful for next Saturday. I’ve always rather liked young Ollie Woodburn and after last season, when he made eighteen appearances scoring seven tries, I thought he’d become a fixture in the side but it was not to be and he looked rusty from lack of game time when making his first Premiership start of the season.
Ex Welford Road favourite Horacio Agulla was his usual bustling, leg driving self and he’ll be looking forward to locking horns with Adam Thompstone who continued his impressive debut season with another try after some lovely handling in the line. Niall Morris is an elegant, calm player and now forms part of a strong back three with the equally elegant Matt Tait.
After earlier travails Tait is looking back to his old self. The coaches have devised a modus operandi for the Tigers’ back three with which he’s clearly comfortable and he’s now causing all sorts of problems for opposition defences and I’d bet he’ll be targeting the Bath 10/12 channel come Saturday.
Nineteen year old fly half Ollie Devoto has been preferred to the giant Jack Cuthbert for filling the gap left at full back by Nick Abendanon’s absence with a broken foot that’s reported to be counting him out for the rest of the season.
Bath so often feed off Abendanon’s mazy high speed running of the ball back from opposition kicks that it’s tough for the somewhat slower Devoto to give his side the same go forward. He showed some nice touches and it’s odd that Gold has reportedly seen the need to import George Ford when he already has Heathcote and Devoto who look really talented youngsters at fly half.
It’s always a big job to get a win at The Recreation Ground but with Tigers bang in form and Bath looking light on attacking ideas as well as being disrupted by injuries I quite fancy Tigers to travel back with a win although whether they’ll manage five points with the Bath defence is another matter.
I’m off to Spain for a break but I’ll be back in time to cast my eyes over Tigers’ prospects for the last league match against London Irish so Adiós for now.
rsquo;t have a break during the Autumn Internationals but can for the knock out phases of the Heineken Cup?!) there
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:04:24:15:58:14 by Tiggs.
Enjoy the sunshine.
...
Leicester by at least 15-20 points!
Bring it on!
Plus, I think top spot would mean a lot to us as well
Great preview, as ever, by the way.
How satisfying that I actually got something right .. and how pathetic that I mention it
Thanks again Chris - the film Mamma Mia was pretty grim, too
'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget
In fact more entertaining than the rugby likely to be played by Bath, but we live in hope
Is he this good every week?
Worth coming to this site for Chris's previews alone.
(As well as many, many other good things!)
'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget