Catt Needs To Be At The Centre Of Things

Last Week's Action
By Glen Leat
September 5 2002

Phew, have you recovered from last Sunday yet? I've just got my breath back in time to start thinking about this week's game against Saracens at Vicarage Road on Sunday. We face the team that scored five tries against Bristol and they will surely look to repeat this feat against a rejuvenated Bath.

All Bath fans will be hoping this game sees the return of Mike Catt, Dan Lyle, Mike Tindall and Gareth Cooper because we cannot rely on the Saracens kicker having the sort of nightmare Barry Everitt suffered last week. My hope is that, with Kevin Maggs away on international duty, Catty will be moved in to the centre to partner Tinds. Chris Malone needs time in the fly-half slot to find his feet and a spell at No 10 with the Cattmeister at his shoulder and Bath would benefit from the time and space Catty would enjoy in the centre. Catty's moves at fly-half are well known around the league and it would throw the opposition out of kilter a bit this year to have to defend his pace and jinks from a different position.

We never looked like scoring a try at the Madejski Stadium and Saracens are clearly the sort of team who will cross the line a couple of times; we cannot rely on Barkley kicking us to victory each week so we have to have some power-plays up front and a back line which can break through the opposing defence. I do not believe that Maggs and Tindall together make up a potent attacking force, but with Mike Catt controlling the game from the centre we ought to be able to catch a few sides napping.

The performance more than the result will tell us more about the current Bath set-up. As it's on a Sunday I'll be praying for a victory for Bath but I think I should have carried on with my Sunday School lessons beyond the age of 10 if I wanted my contribution to make a difference!

Click here to remind yourself about the last match against Sarries.

Click on to the Saracens site for their perspective on things.

In preparation for this clash let's have a look at a few recent statistics:

Biggest Win

Player Greats

Last Meetings (Bath scores first)