Glawster Bottle It And Draw At Bath
Celebration At Bath
By Glen Leat
September 28 2002
Glawster once again bottled at the Rec and continue their sorry league run at Bath of no victories in 12 attempts with a 21-21 draw. As the form team scoring a magnificent 18 tries in four games, when Glawster were 21-12 in front they really should have shut up shop and taken all four points.
But Bath once again showed their resilience
and stormed back to grab a share of the points
and break the hearts of the envious Sheddites
who had made the trip down south to pop in
to our clubhouse to look at all our trophies.
The Bath defence was generally very good
and they frustrated the Glaws backs who had
been used to the run of the park the week
before against Bristol; but this was a completely
different derby match and Michael Foley can
be very pleased with this performance.
Bath got off to a storming start as Chris
Malone slotted home a drop goal after just
3 minutes to rock the visitors back on their
heels. But within three minutes Bath had
given away the first of eleven penalties
and Mercier made them pay with a successful
kick at goal. Fortunately for Bath Mercier
was off form today and he missed two very
kickable penalties and a conversion. If Glaws
had given the kicking job to Henry Paul from
the start they may have gone back home with
all four championship points. It was refreshing
to see the New Zealander, who was today watched
by his younger brother Robbie on vacation
from the Bradford Bulls, organise his kicks
at goal; none of the shuffling and messing
around we see from all other exponents of
this art, he just placed the ball on the
ground and whacked it - bingo a goal!
Fortunately for Bath, Olly Barkley had buffed
up his kicking shoes as he slotted home every
attempt. Without doubt this lad is getting
better and better with his kicking and is
a crucial part of the Bath attack. Barkley
doesn't just scrape the ball through the
posts they appear to go straight through
the middle - brilliant stuff!
Our handling at kick-offs and receiving long
high balls are still a worry, with knock-ons
and uncertainty never far away from the play.
On one occasion Nathan Thomas and Dan Lyle
collided as they tried to get the same kick-off
ball, haven't you boys heard of shouting?
In today's environment of easy penalties
from a group of generally poor referees our
players cannot afford to make basic mistakes
like these otherwise the opposition can get
free pot shots at goal. Something else for
the training ground methinks!
Glaws scored their first try after 18 minutes
and there was a fear this could be the opening
of the floodgates for the Cherry and Whites.
Bath were penalised at a Glaws scrum and
quick as a flash Gomarsall hoofed the ball
upfield. Barkley could not control the ball
and gave away a line out from which Gomarsall
sold a dummy to the Bath defenders, flipped
the ball in to Forrester who ran in behind
the posts to give his side a 11-3 lead. Amazingly
Mercier missed the very easy conversion.
Love him or loathe him, Andy Gomarsall is
a sparky little player who gives his team
snap; he is generally at the centre of the
action, where all good scrum-halves should
be, and he'll offer up numerous opportunities
for his team-mates which is clearly making
a difference to the Glawster attacking options.
The stories last season that Gomarsall was
coming to Bath may have been exaggerated
but we could have done a lot worse than signing
this little gem and he will no doubt continue
to sparkle for Glaws all season.
Mike Tindall had another of his strong games,
at times taking on the whole of the Glawster
pack and almost winning, but this week he
had the good fortune to share the centre
with a very impressive Alex Crockett who
raised his game immeasurably for this local
derby. Well done Alex, facing up to this
powerful Glaws side cannot be the most pleasant
way to spend a warm Saturday afternoon but
you can sleep soundly tonight with the words
"Job well done" ringing in your
ears.
Bath were awarded two more penalties to take
the half-time score to 9 - 11 in favour of
the visitors but almost got off to a miserable
start to the second half as Nathan Thomas
dropped the re-start and gave Glawster an
ideal opportunity for an early score but
great home defence denied them and eventually
earned a clearing penalty. Henry Paul then
scored a penalty after Dan Lyle handled the
ball at the back of a Glaws scrum whilst
he was lying on the floor; a silly basic
error and Bath were rightly penalised. This
type of error could well be the difference
between Bath winning and losing future games
and we need to cut them out!
Olivier Azam joined the fray after 60 minutes
and ran like a crazed ox all over the field.
His power and ball handling gave Bath some
initial problems and he had only been on
the field for a couple of minutes when Henry
Paul scored Glawster's second try in Victor's
Corner after the visiting forwards peppered
the Bath line with wave upon wave of attacks,
it was only a matter of time before the defence
was broken and it was no surprise when Paul
stretched the Bath line just too far. Paul's
conversion of his own try made the score
12 - 21 and Bath looked sunk.
But Bath would not give up and chased Glawster
as though their lives depended on their actions
and it was thrilling for the home supporters
to see their team take on and almost beat
the league leaders. Two more penalty kicks
from Olly Barkley saw Bath snatch a second
home draw from two games. A home draw may
be seen by some as points lost, but given
that many of us were expecting a bit of a
hiding we can rightfully treat this draw
as a moral victory, well done Bath!
Next week away to Leicester, not exactly
easy this league is it!
| Penalties Awarded | |||
| Bath | Glaws | ||
| 1st | 2nd | 1st | 2nd |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 5 |
Let's look at the result of your prediction
for this game:
|
17%Let's have a look at the latest league table.
So what did you think of the Bath players
in this game? Vote by clicking on to here
Bath scorers
Tries:
Cons:
Pens: Barkley (6)
Drop Goal: Malone (1)
Bath:
15. Olly Barkley 14. Simon Danielli 13. Mike Tindall 12. Alex Crockett 11. Tom Voyce 10. Chris Malone 9. Gareth Cooper 1. Simon Emms 2. Jonathan Humphreys
3. Alessio Galasso 4. Andy Beattie 5. Danny Grewcock 6. Gavin Thomas 7. Dan Lyle 8. Nathan Thomas