The Boys Are Back In Town

By Chris Chaplin
November 26 2003

After the drama, elation and hangover that the World Cup Final brought to rugby lovers everywhere here we all are back at the coalface of the Zurich Premiership with our heroes.

The heroics of our World Cup players will be at the forefront of most people’s minds this coming weekend as we welcome them back to the bosom of their real families at the clubs and which for the most part the players have not represented on the field for almost six months. Please also spare more than a passing thought for those sometimes unsung heroes who were left behind to keep the home fires burning with varying degrees of success.

Bath without doubt have coped best with the strictures forced upon them by the World Cup with Tindall, Catt, Grewcock, Maggs, Balshaw and Danielli all away in foreign parts. To add to the challenge coach Connolly has had a massive number of injuries to contend with of which perhaps the most poignant has been that sustained by the superb Robbie Fleck, who I was privileged to see in his one full game for the Bath side, before he broke his leg and found himself sidelined for the rest of the season.

The fragility of purpose that has characterised the Bath sides of the immediate past is now just that, of the past, with a new steel and determination previously thought by many to be the exclusive preserve of Tigers now much in evidence at the Recreation Ground and as a consequence of this new “can do” attitude they still managed to prevail over Quins last weekend, even though they were down to 14 men for all but half an hour of the encounter.

While not exactly laughing in the face of adversity I’m sure I detect a smirk and shrug from the Aussie coaching team that have established their Billabong down in the West Country as yet another brickbat comes their way.

Through all this though there have been elements of fortune, the greatest of which is that the Bath pack has remained intact and performed week in and week out during the opening half of this strangest of seasons.

Some astute signings by that old grey fox Jack Rowell were promptly welded into a fighting force and the scope of this achievement by Connolly and his team cannot be underestimated in its contribution to Bath’s success thus far.

Connolly has already stated that injuries permitting he will not utilise the talents of his returning warriors at Welford Road this weekend and this is a compassionate and generous position for him to take when the splendid performances of Tindall and Catt are considered as well as the effect of playing these two outside of the burgeoning talent of Ollie Barkley in what must surely be his natural position at Fly-half is considered, the youngster scoring all of his sides’ 18 points with his educated boot when they beat Quins in a top of the table battle last weekend.

It will only be four short weeks since I was down in Bath on a beautiful, cold, sunny early Winter day and in the time since I wrote my preview of that game little has changed in the front nine positions with only Barkely donning his rightful #10 shirt in replacing Chris Malone.

As it is then, injuries permitting and with the possible exception of the excellent Michael Lipman, who managed to get himself Red Carded by Roy Maybank when the ex Bristol flanker decided to do a bit of tap dancing on Pat Sanderson last weekend, I expect to see the usual pack on parade at Welford Road with Flatman and Humphreys anchoring the front row.

Borthwick and Rob Fidler having formed an excellent and complementary partnership at lock will surely be unchanged while if Lipman is absent the dynamism produced by Beattie and Fea’unati will perhaps be augmented by England Under 21 flanker James Scaysbrook as it seems that the excellent Adam Vander is still recovering from the serious injury he sustained playing for England A.

Ex Wasp Martyn Wood has settled well at The Rec., and seems to be forming a good relationship with Barkley and I can’t see Hentie Martens unseating him.

With the injuries abounding in the backs short term signing Kiwi Robbie Kydd has been dragooned in to the centre as Kevin Maggs eases way back into the domestic scene although I rather expect Irishman Maggs to start on Saturday. This 59 time capped Irish international with 14 tries to his credit for his country to be added to the 28 he’s scored for his club in the premiership, during his more than 100 appearances in the competition, shows that given half a chance he can break the gain line at will and form a sturdy bridgehead deep into opposition territory and if he does indeed start or even make an appearance, as he did for the final quarter against Quins, he will be a very real threat, especially given Tigers seeming new defensive frailties.

Probably partnered by young ex Bristolian Higgins these two are contrasting and perhaps complimentary players, much as are Tindall and Catt. The only difference is that Higgins can be a bit shaky when fulfilling his defensive duties and he really doesn’t like to be turned so it may be that the young ex Otago centre Robbie Kydd will again start. A bit of a utility back able to play at Centre, Fly-half and Full back he’s likely to at least be on the bench I’d have thought.

On the left wing the big modern winger Simon Danelli (or McDanelli as some of the Bath faithful like to call him) is restored after his country’s lack lustre World Cup campaign. Whenever I say that I rather like Danielli’s direct powerful style of play it can be pretty much guaranteed that a Bath supporter will question my sanity in holding such a view but for the life of me I don’t understand why this player is not more universally appreciated. I’ve never seen him do much wrong and I like him – so there!!! It is my article after all and he has scored 10 premiership tries for Bath from just 30 odd appearances – what do his detractors want from him?

Unless the lightly used World Cup returnee Iain Balshaw makes an appearance and with the absence of Aussie Tim Brasher, who is resuming his retirement, together with on going injuries to Brendon Daniel and Jamie Williams we will probably see young Wylie Human again on the right wing. I’ve never seen this youngster play so cannot comment on him either way so we’ll have to wait and see.

Last line of defence it’s that man again Matt Perry, who will, I’m sure, be sending some testing kicks to the Tigers back three with whomsoever this week draws the raffle ball at Oval Park with #15 on it.

So the usual solid performance from the Bath pack looks assured but will the fragmented back division beyond Wood and Barkley be able to capitalise.

Well if Bath sacrificed their backs to the World Cup cause it cannot be argued that Tigers sacrificed their pack and to use an old rugby adage “forwards win matches the backs decide by how much”.

There has been no such altruistic undertaking from Dean Richards that his World Cup returnees will enjoy a period of quiet reflection, mind you I suppose with his team four from the bottom of the premiership and Connolly’s charges comfortably atop it the two coaches can be excused having a somewhat different perspective.

Julian White has played little rugby down under and so I would expect to see him start and unless things are settled over whether the similarly little used Dorian West has now retired that Julian will partner the impressive Jim Richards, who very nearly scored for the third time in three starts last weekend – have we signed him yet? With White, Richards (or West) and Rowntree I think that the Bath trio will have their work cut out to dominate as they have in the opening rounds of this year’s premiership. If West is back then we could have an England front row on parade.

Second row is more of a conundrum. Of course we now have Martin Corry back who also saw little action down under and perhaps he’ll partner either Louis Deacon or, if he’s recovered, Stewart Campbell, for what I guess will be his last game before the Scot heads back to Leeds. It would of course be wonderful to see Johnno and Ben Kay make a triumphant appearance but in the likely event of neither playing then we’ll not see the World Cup winning duo playing at Welford Road until the fixture against Gwent Dragons on 14 December. To be fair Deacon and Campbell have done a solid job in securing the ball on their own throw since the arrival of Richards but they’ll have their work cut out against the best pairing in the premiership thus far and the chances of winning valuable ball off the Bath throw looks unlikely so Corry’s edge could be welcome.

In the back row the untimely injury to Josh and the suggestion that the new club skipper may be having a well earned weekend off could perhaps see Moody partner Dan Lyle and Adam Balding if Corry is at lock. Lewis Moody is another who has not played too much rugby in the World Cup and it’d be nice to see him in a Tigers shirt for the first time since last Winter.

All our World Cup pack playing at Welford Road against the auld enemy – fair makes the mouth water but I think it extremely unlikely.

In any event aside from possibly not winning defending ball at the lineout I believe that we have the combination of players to now hold and perhaps turn over the best pack in the premiership – well best up to now at least!

Harry Ellis has been up before the beak and copped a ten week ban so perhaps at last Oz will start at #9. Surely Tierney will not be preferred, or will he? I think that it is possible to rattle Martyn Wood which Harry and Oz would but Tom is somehow a bit more placid in the way he goes about his work. What cannot be allowed to happen is for Ollie Barkley to settle down into a positional kicking game otherwise Tigers will spend all their time trying to get out of their own 22, stifling this lad’s creativity is the key. By the same token the young Bath players’ ability with ball in hand would get Maggs loose, so for my money the game could be won on lost right here.

Pez certainly earned his corn against Rotherham with no fewer than 17 of Tigers 27 points at Millmoor another case of what do his detractors want? Blood? With the fast service that Oz can give him he could just get Gibson and Smith away, which would make things very interesting through the middle of the park.

I rather hope that either Booth or Baxter are fit for the Bath match as I think that their raw pace may just be too much for the bulky Danielli and the inexperienced Wylie Human, if they start, and to be fair coach Connolly doesn’t look to have too many options out wide just now.

Matt Perry will be a staunch last line of defence and he’ll need to be closed down quickly on the counter if he’s not to do serious damage and to this end if Fred is playing he must secure his tackles better than he has when I’ve seen him play this term.

Sam Vesty made his first start as full back for the senior side against Titans and let’s hope that he gets a bit of time to settle into the position, at least as back up to whomsoever is finally signed to belatedly replace Stimpson. With Pez and Vesty doing a job share at #10 it would be good to have the combative Vesty on the park and he does have all the necessary credentials to make him a good #15.

Rarely has it been harder to work out what might or might not happen in a game.

Will both coaches be true to their respective words about selecting returning England players? Certainly I’d have thought that Deano would ideally want to give them a competitive run out with their team mates before they face Stade Francais the following weekend.

So I really don’t know.

Let’s at least hope for a festive occasion as we welcome back our heroes and one with a Tigers win as the icing on that particular cake – you know I do believe we might just manage it – the sell out crowd would be ever so grateful!