Bath Edge Quins in Battle of the Also-Rans

The return fixture of a drab 6-all draw at the Stoop started quite promisingly with, after an initial bout of back and forth, an excellent line break from Mercer got the crowd going, although his attempted chip over the top left us in no doubt that he's still a work in progress. Soon enough though, after good work from Abendanon, a slice through defence from the improved Hape led to good offloads to Skirving and then Claassens for a try under the posts after 10 minutes. Butch added the extras and Bath were 7-0 up, and it looked like we might see some shackles well and truly discarded.

Quins weren't about to let that happen though and turned over a number of Bath attacks and cleared their lines with the howitzer boot of Mike Brown. After a misjudged pass off a line-out from Abendanon, Quins manouevered Brown into a position to chip over defence. After a cynical dive/blatant body check depending on the tint of your glasses a penalty was awarded and Evans got a chance to kick for the posts. He missed, but soon got another chance and made no mistake.

Guy Mercer faces off against Matt Cairns

Soon Stuart Hooper was forced to depart the field with what looked like an arm fracture (not good for helping hold the baby!) and was replaced by Ovens. Bath now had what must have been their least experienced back row in a premiership game for an awful long time. A Quins injury halted the game (although Mr Pearson confused a large section of the crowd in signalling a stop to the clocks rather than what seemed to be a Bath penalty). From the resulting scrum a Bath penalty was awarded anyway, but Butch was unable to convert it. The game flowed back to the other end where Evans managed to clip the Bath flag on top of the posts. The Assistant Referees (one a Mister Wayne Barnes and one who looked like he had eaten Stuart Barnes) adjudged it fair. Quins gave a penalty away quite swiftly from the restart and Butch made no mistake, before Bath returned the favour and Evans converted more conventionally. 10-9 with seconds to go until the break and Bath's defence won a scrum in their 22. A stupid free kick conceded though gave Quins a chance to take a lead heading into the break, but fortunately Evans hooked his drop goal attempt wide.

Rather than the usual half-time mug of cocoa, Bath seemed to actually come out of the break all guns-blazing and Quins (perhaps distracted by the interval's spacehopper race – you didn't have to be inebriated to take part, but certainly a bunch of contestants were!) gave away two quick penalties. Butch had seemingly borrowed Olly's kicking boots today and slotted both to establish a 7 point lead at 16-9. Rather than kick on from this however, Bath conceded a converted penalty for not binding (not Flats this time but by God that penalty is an irritating one!) and then found themselves pinned back in their 22 with only a couple of desperate tackles saving them from conceding a try. From one of these situations however Sam Vesty killed the ball and was deservedly sent to the sin bin. Evans edged Quins back to within a point at 16-15.

Mercer and Skirving double-tackle Nick Evans

Down to 14 men and Bath really upped their aggression and accuracy in defence and earned themselves a shot at goal. Butch slotted it (keep those boots, Butch!) and Bath ended the sin-bin period with 3 points scored and only 3 conceded. Vesty returned to the field and replaced Butch as the usual carousel of substitutes continued. Despite applying some pressure and making some half-breaks, Bath were unable to kill Quins off at this stage, albeit not aided by some very inconsistent refereeing from Pearson on tacklers not rolling away. From one of these penalties, and with time running out, Danny Care knocked on an attempted quick tap and we all sighed in relief. At which point Bath again gave away a stupid penalty at engagement on the scrum and gave Quins a lifeline. As they pick-and-drove down the pitch, Bath had the benefit of knowing only a try would be sufficient for Quins and lay their bodies on the line. Finally after wave upon wave of tight pressure on the line Quins knocked on and Bath could celebrate a win.

So a decent win against a team who are at our level this season. We should be concerned, however, at the real lack of power and the number of stupid penalties we continue to give away at the scrum. With the emergence of Mercer and Ovens and the signing of the impressive looking Fearns for next season, Bath fans must be wondering why we seem to be signing Francois Louw from South Africa rather than a world class tighthead?

Shontayne Hape offloads the ball

Bath: S Vesty; M Banahan, M Carraro, S Hape, N Abendanon; B James (T Biggs 70), M Claasens (capt); N Catt (D Bell 61), L Mears (P Dixon 65), D Wilson, P Short (M Lilley 71), D Grewcock (I Fernandez Lobbe 61), S Hooper (J Ovens 24), G Mercer, B Skirving.

Harlequins: M Brown; G Camacho, G Lowe, J Turner-Hall, U Monye; N Evans, D Care; C Jones, J Grey (M Cairns 48mins), J Andress (J Johnston 48), O Kohn (T Vallejos Cinalli 80), G Robson, M Fa'asavalu, C Robshaw (capt), N Easter.

Referee: D Pearson (RFU).

Photos by Patrick Khachfe | Onside Images