Bath snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
By Nick Marshall
November 13 2011
In the last two seasons Bath have been unable to advance from the pool stages of the Heineken Cup, and with away wins being like gold dust, this was Bath's best chance of that valuable win.
My build-up to the game was good, I walked the dogs by the River Stour and I had a damn good breakfast, and finally settled down in front of the television to watch the match - bliss. Anyway enough about me. As I watched the pre-game coverage on Sky, something came to me that I thought were worth highlighting. Firstly, Glasgow are the in-form team in the Rabo Direct Pro 12 (what a ridiculous name!), with an unbeaten streak since early September. So with this being our supposedly easiest away game in the group, think of how tough it is going to be to progress! Also having watched the Montpellier Leinster game, you'd be forgiven for thinking that given our recent form domestically and in Europe we are not favourites to go through.
The battle of the tight fives was going to go a long way to decide the game, with Glasgow's front row being genuine specialists in the scrum and Bath's front row being so very inconsistent for, well, the last two or three seasons. The names that sprung out to me in the Glasgow team sheet were the second row combination of Gray and Kellock, Barclay at 7, Cusiter at 9 and finally Morrison at 12. For Bath, as I've said, it was vital for the front row of Flatman, Batty and Wilson to have a big game (especially Batty there being no hooker on the bench!), for those of us on ERE I also feel that every game is a big game for captain Stuart Hooper - he gets a lot of criticism on ERE, some of which I feel is unwarranted but on the whole he doesn't stand out as a leader on the pitch. Just before kickoff it was announced that Matt Banahan had pulled up in the warm ups with a tight quad so Sam Vesty was drafted in to replace him at 12, with Jack Cuthbert coming onto the bench.
From Heathcote's kick off, Glasgow claimed the ball and Chris Cusiter went for a box kick, only to be charged down by Claassens. Bath were able to gain possession and after some sustained pressure, Glasgow number 8 Ryan Wilson put in a high tackle on Dan Hipkiss. Tom Heathcote calmly slotted the penalty to give Bath a great start and make the scoreline 0-3. But off the restart, where Vesty did well to catch the ball, Dan Hipkiss was adjudged to have sealed off the ball and was subsequently penalised. Duncan Weir then cancelled out Heathcote's penalty to make the score 3-3. The first scrum came soon after this and for me this was a very interesting moment - Christophe Berdos felt that Davey Wilson had taken the scrum down but I, along with the commentators, felt that it was actually Glasgow's loosehead Grant who had taken it down.
Bath then had a scrum a few moments later and it was solid, from it Claassens fed Heathcote who spun the ball wide, the ball found its way to the impressive Olly Woodburn on the wing. He took the tackle and from the resulting ruck Dan Hipkiss picked up the ball and broke away from the fringe of the ruck. He scampered and side stepped his way up to the Glasgow 22 only to be tackled by Cusiter. Bath then went through the phases but were unable to get over the try line - Glasgow's defence had recovered very well. Bath continued to pressure Glasgow and Louw made a Hipkiss-esq burst from a ruck but once again Bath were not clinical enough to convert this pressure into a score. This had the feeling of the Gloucester game and also the Irish game at the Madjeski where Bath had all of the possession and territory but were just unable to cross the whitewash.
Louw and Mercer were really doing their job at the breakdown with efficient cleanouts and scavenging. The camera then panned in on McGeechan and Haag, amazingly Martin Haag was wearing a suit - there's a first for everything!!! Back to the play and Bath had the put in to the next scrum, Wilson looked to be settling into the match now with some solid carries and it was he who got the shove on and won the penalty. I just feel that now Wilson is getting some more game time under his belt he is getting back to his good form from last season. He is massively under rated by a lot on ERE, but he makes good ground in the loose and can often be dominant in the scrums. From the penalty, Tom Heathcote nailed it straight between the uprights from about 50m out!
Moments later Ross Batty threw into a line out where he found Simon Taylor at the back, the ball came off the top and Heathcote popped to Hipkiss on the crash ball. Hipkiss beat the first man as he often does but Glasgow's resolute defence stayed strong. Glasgow then turned the ball over only for Stuart Hooper to make a brave steal, diving at the feet of a number of Glasgow forwards to grab hold of the loose ball. He then undid that good work by losing the ball in contact later on in play. Bath then conceded a penalty between the Glasgow ten metre line and the halfway line, and they decided to go for the three points. The attempt fell short and Nick Abendanon hammered a kick back inside the Glasgow 22, the Glasgow full back then sliced his clearance into touch and Bath had a good platform to attack from. Unfortunately though, Batty couldn't find his man and the ball was knocked on. Glasgow won another penalty at the resulting scrum after Flatman failed to bind properly (surely not...!). The half then came to an end when Simon Taylor was very harshly judged to have either not rolled away or to have put his hands in the ruck, and Duncan Weir made it 9-6 to Glasgow going in at half time.
For me, Bath had totally dominated the first half with far superior possession and territory. But credit must be given to Glasgow's defence, they'd kept Bath out very well. At half time you felt that if Bath could be patient they would surely go over at least once and get the win that after the first 40 minutes, they thoroughly deserved. One thing they would have to address was the penalty count, for Bath had conceded eight penalties to Glasgow's two!
The team returned to the pitch and soon after the kick off Flatman conceded a penalty at a scrum but then redeemed himself at the next scrum by winning the penalty. Heathcote nailed the resulting penalty to bring it back to 9-9. One thing that must be said is that watching rugby in Scotland is incredibly dull, the atmosphere seemed to be awful, it made the Rec sound barmy. Good work from Batty and Claassens at the breakdown saw Bath turn the ball over from Ritchie Gray. Bath possession and territory then led to another penalty for Bath, Glasgow getting pinged for hands in the ruck, Heathcote again landed the penalty to make it 9-12.
After Francois Louw had made a great steal at the breakdown, Glasgow had possession in the Bath 22 and somehow managed to find their way over the try line for what can only be described as an innocuous try. Weir converted to make it 16-12. Soon after the restart, Bath won another penalty for the tackled player (Hooper) not being released and Heathcote again coolly slotted his kick to peg Glasgow back to 16-15. Bath then made some changes in the pack and Stephen Donald was preparing to be introduced into this rather stodgy encounter. Just before Donald's arrival, Charlie Beech won a penalty at the scrum and Heathcote maintained his 100% record by nudging over his sixth penalty to edge Bath into the lead at 16-18. Heathcote went off and can be incredibly proud of his assured display both in attack, defence and with the boot.
Donald's first involvement was to bravely dive on the ball after Glasgow had hacked the ball up field. His second involvement was to try and punch a kick into the corner but he unfortunately kicked the ball dead. Ross Batty then gave a penalty away for hands in the ruck on his own 22, which Duncan Weir kicked to edge Glasgow back into the lead. 19-18. A few minutes later Bath had a line out on the Glasgow 22 and Batty threw long, a rolling maul then started with Louw controlling the ball at the back. Berdos warned Louw and McMillan to use the ball but McMillan failed to take the ball from Louw and Bath conceded a scrum. An opportunity wasted for sure. From that scrum, Charlie Beech won yet another penalty which allowed Donald to slot yet another winning penalty. He calmly stepped up and just squeezed the ball between the uprights, similar to his World Cup winning kick!
But with the last play of the game, Glasgow engineered a position for Weir to try a drop goal. Like Munster last night, Glasgow won the game from it, but not quite in the same manner. Weir went for the drop goal, the ball was touched in flight by a Bath player leaving all Glasgow players onside. The ball bounced past the onrushing Abendanon, and was then snaffled by Ritchie Gray to go over. Glasgow had stolen the game with the last play of the game! Sickening!
I'm going to try and be as un-biased as I can be but on balance I genuinely believe that Bath were the superior and better side, but they just lacked any bite and were not in any way clinical in the final quarter of the pitch. We had an inconsistent platform all day, as we expected, with the line out and scrums having very mixed success. We should have won by 15 points but we didn't. It was another incredibly disappointing result after all players had put in a monumental effort. Tom Heathcote was excellent, Dan Hipkiss had his best game in a Bath shirt, Ross Batty did well to last the 80 minutes despite not having a great game and Ryan Caldwell impressed once again.
This loss means Bath will probably need to win all of their home games and probably one of their away games. A big pat on the back must go to the strong travelling away contingent, it was great to see so many of you on the television!! A gutting result and finish to the game that we're unfortunately only so used to! We MUST win next weekend against Montpellier.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:11:17:22:15:03 by Glen The Ed.
If you didn't see the game then Nick's report tells you all you need to know.
What is so disappointing is that 2/3 years ago, Bath were viewed as one of the more exciting teams in the Premiership.
Not so now. We have become predictable,one-dimensional and ill-disciplined.
Bit nervous about Montpellier next Sunday. Can only hope they are poor travellers. Otherwise we could be on our way out after just 2 games.
Felt like you, that Heathcote should have remained on the park.
Half that side should have been made to walk home
Quote:I forgot to mention it in the report, but I did also feel it was a mistake to take Heathcote off, I would have taken off Vesty and put Donald on at 12.
I was thinking something similar but with Donald at 10 and the youngster at 12.
Chatting about Bath on Twitter? Use the #BRERE hashtag so we can find each other!
For me the blame lies entirely with the front row being so weak. I'm hopeful that Perenise will ultimately bring some power, but I'd dump the rest and bing in some big, powerful scrummagers.
I really hope I'm wrong, but against a good Montpellier side on Sunday things could become depressing really quickly.
As to Leinster missing their RWC players the same went for Glasgow and they still did the business. They played some nice rugby that night much to our chagrin.
Quote:JohnMB
Maybe I am. I only got back on Monday evening from Montpellier so I didn't see SKY's round up programme to have a look at how Bath played. I've seen some suggestions of a lucky bounce in the last minute for Glasgow's winning try. If that hadn't happened would you still be as down beat about Bath's chances?
From one who sat through the whole sorry performance the answer to your question is a resounding YES!
Donald was proven to have the temperament to close out the WC and if the forwards had sealed the restart or the ball not bounced badly would have closed this out too.
Taking Heathcote off meant avoiding a potentially confidence damaging decision by him that might result in a loss. Remember he's very inexperienced and young in his career - we're always talking about developing players correctly and SIM is doing well in this regard.
Come the end of the season or next season that will pay us back
Progressing from this group with two hookers out, no Banners, no Moody, no soft team to rattle tries against and Leinster in was always a big ask anyway.
Matt Banahan 2010-11 adoptee
Focusing on the backs after 3 years of successful front row adoption
We do try and make it difficult for oursleves.
Quote:wineman
I think taking Heathcote off made some sense.
Donald was proven to have the temperament to close out the WC and if the forwards had sealed the restart or the ball not bounced badly would have closed this out too.
Taking Heathcote off meant avoiding a potentially confidence damaging decision by him that might result in a loss. Remember he's very inexperienced and young in his career - we're always talking about developing players correctly and SIM is doing well in this regard.
Come the end of the season or next season that will pay us back
Progressing from this group with two hookers out, no Banners, no Moody, no soft team to rattle tries against and Leinster in was always a big ask anyway.
Donald only came on at the RWC because of an injury......
Taking our best player on the day off was idiotic.