Bath once more Kings of the Rec

By Mike Hill
November 3 2003

There were signs of improvement but the record books will show a fifth straight defeat as Bath became the latest team to tame the Tigers. The scoreline of 31 –17 in favour of the home side was a fair reflection of Bath’s overall supremacy however it could and possibly should have been a lot closer.

Tigers as usual started slowly as yet another different half back pairing took time to get used to each other. Saturday saw a welcome return to the no. 10 jersey for Ramiro Pez who surely must be given a run of games if he is to play to his potential. Yes his defence is suspect at times but that can only be improved by playing in the Premiership and he is obviously a talented footballer. He also kicked well with a good strike rate some decent touch kicks and a well-taken drop goal.

Leicester's defence was found wanting as Isaac Feaunati burst through a huge hole to score Bath’s first try although it would have taken a very strong and brave (mental) player to have stopped the 17 stone Samoan at full tilt. Before that Ollie Barkley had kept the scoreboard ticking over with a stream of well struck penalty goals. A clever quick tap saw Matt Perry add Bath's second after Wood's cross kick was well fielded by prop Duncan Bell who shipped it on to the full back.

Tigers managed just a single penalty in the first half for their forty minutes of blood and sweat and the game already seemed to be out of their reach at 18 - 3. The second half saw a big improvement and we even outscored the league leaders 14 - 13 thanks to a couple more penalties and a drop goal by Rama and a try from Oz. The lineout started functioning and Ollie and Daryl worked well together in the centre. The star of the show, however, was Josh Kronfeld who had a storming game and made more ground with ball in hand than the rest of the pack put together. So Josh is this week's Man of the Match, and the decision was the easiest yet with no other Leicester player really in contention.

I thought Olly Barkley was the best player in the Bath side he seems to have matured into a fine all round player. The second period of the game was punctuated by four yellow cards and the sin bin could have done with a revolving door. As discipline went out the window some good old fashioned cheating and skull duggery came to the fore and it was all thoroughly enjoyable. Bath - Leicester fixtures are supposed to be like this, it shows the players care. First Flatman was singled out of a trio of off side players then Pez was binned for preventing a quick tap penalty and a certain try. Finally Borthwick and Balding spent the best part of three minutes punching and wrestling before making their way to the sin bin overspill area.

Bath sealed their victory with their third try of the afternoon courtesy of Olly Barkley finding Darren Morris opposing him and quickly taking full advantage of the difference in pace. Tigers however had the final word when crowd favourite Austin Healey danced around the cover to score in the corner after an impressive break by Ollie Smith. Another chance went begging after replacement, first team debutant and speed merchant Neil Baxter cut through only to find he was far too quick for his support runners so late in the game.

We've got to win again one of these days I think it could be on Saturday when current champions Wasps visit Welford Road. They haven't started the season too well and if we play out of our socks we could just sneak it.