Bath Dominate Quins To Gain Vital Victory
Celebrate Victory
By Glen Leat
December 28 2002
Bath Rugby sent their fans an end of year greeting and a hint of what could be on offer in the new year as they beat Harlequins 23 - 9 at the Recreation Ground in front of a post Christmas full house. This result is definitely something with which to ring in the new year.
Bath got off to a flying start and, after
Harlequins had lost the ball at the kick-off,
the Bath backs and forwards played phase
after phase for a full three minutes and
denied the opposition a sniff of the ball;
the only down side to this early passage
of play was the lack of yards gained. However
Olly Barkley, playing in his favoured No
10 spot, soon slid through the Quins defence
and despite waiting to be tackled, just kept
running. Eventually he met up with the scruffy
figure of Nathan Williams at full back and
was able to off-load the ball to Iain Balshaw.
Unfortunately for Balshaw and Bath the ball
did not stick to his hands when the try line
was beckoning.
This was the start of some very fast and
furious play by Bath and given this approach,
which many of us have been advocating all
season, there are bound to be handling mistakes
and it is far better to watch the Bath backs
playing as though with a metaphorical sun
on their backs and make some mistakes than
seeing them trudging around the paddock with
the worries of the world on their shoulders!
Bath continued to pound the Quins twenty-two
and really should have come away with a try
but they had to be content with a Barkley
penalty after six minutes to start the scoring
at 3 - 0. Within five minutes Harlequins
had also scored through a penalty against
the run of play but it only took Bath until
the 14th minute to open their try account
and set up their winning ways. The origin
of this score can be found in a cross-field
Barkley kick that Balshaw picked up and fed
back to Simon Danielli. Needless to say Danielli
made little progress forward but was able
to get the ball across field through several
pairs of hand to feed Kevin Maggs so he could
crash over the line to a loud cheer from
the home supporters. Barkley's conversion
took the score to 10 - 3.
It is a shame to feel moved to criticise
a player week after week but the consistently
poor performances from Simon Danielli all
season leave me with little choice as I report
what I see. It was a great relief to see
Matt Perry return to the side in the 56th
minute in place of the ex-Bristol winger,
allowing Balshaw to move on to his better
position on the wing. We just have to hope
that Perry can start a game so that the coaches
do not have to pick Danielli in the starting
line up in the coming weeks.
Bath controlled the vast majority of the
first half, with some fantastic line-out
work and a stronger scrum than last week
and really should have been further ahead
than the 16 - 9 displayed on the (now working)
scoreboards.
The second half did not start for Bath as
the first had done and after 11 minutes the
visitors had taken the score to a worrying
(for Bath fans) 16 - 9. From a team in control
and dominating the key aspects of the game
during the first half Bath managed to lose
their composure and discipline throughout
the second half and prior to Mike Tindall
scoring Bath's second try the game was very
much in the balance.
After 70 minutes Kevin Maggs broke free of
his tacklers and raced out of his half towards
the Quins' line. With just the full-back
to beat and a three man overlap to his right,
and the crowd roaring him on, Maggs took
the wrong option and got himself and his
colleagues tangled up with the defenders.
A real chance had gone begging! Fortunately
for Bath up popped Mike Tindall, five minutes
later, with a celebratory swallow dive over
the Quins try line to the enjoy the adulation
of securing a vital four points whilst denying
Harlequins a bonus point.
Referee Chris White then proceeded to infuriate
the home fans with his, apparently, one-eyed
decisions and a watch that appeared to have
lost one of its hands. Would that final whistle
ever blow? To make matters worse Andy Long
threw a ridiculously long(sic) line-out ball
as Bath defended their line and gave Harlequins
another chance to grab the vital bonus point.
Long, like Danielli, has been a disappointment
this year and he really needs to raise his
game if he wants to remain at the Rec. After
giving the visitors countless opportunities
to score referee White finally decided it
was time for a hot bath and so blew the whistle
with the score standing at 23 - 9 to the
home side. Well done boys a great result.
Finally, a little bit of a laugh. I think
the "Ref Links" are a good idea
and maybe one day I'll spring open my wallet
to buy one. However today these contraptions
provided me with one of those funny "spectator
moments". A young lad (about 12 years
old) sat behind me with his dad was listening
to the link and suddenly shouted, "F*****g
good scrum!" at the top of his voice.
As those around jumped with shock his dad
quickly clamped his hand over the lad's mouth.
"Mmmhh", mumbled the boy as he
spat the hand out of his mouth, "That's
what one of the players said." He then
got told to censor any future player comments
and to remember that his voice is rather
loud when wearing the ear pieces. Takes me
back to the days when I would look out for
funny stories for ERE - great stuff. "F*****g
good timing son!"
Finally, finally, hasn't the match programme
become a good read, well done all involved.
I particularly like the piece about supporting
Bath by Bob Dolby. I don't know Bob but he
encapsulated a lot of how I feel about my
rugby and my club, thanks Bob. If anyone
knows Bob can they ensure he contributes
to our messageboard debates (assuming he
doesn't already) because I am sure he would
enrich our conversations. Also, well done
to Bath Rugby for including such an article,
let's have more of this. I also noticed that
Andrew Brownsword recently held a focus group
with some supporters. Did I miss something
here? Were we all invited to take part or
did I just mistake my invitation for another
Christmas card which I threw out before opening
the envelope?
Let's look at the result of your prediction
for this game:
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79%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: Maggs, Tindall
Cons: Barkley (2)
Pens: Barkley (3)
Drop Goal:
Bath:
15. Iain Balshaw 14. Simon Danielli 13. Mike Tindall 12. Kevin Maggs 11. Tom Voyce 10. Olly Barkley9. Gareth Cooper 1. David Barnes 2. Jonathan Humphreys
3. John Mallett 4. Steve Borthwick 5. Danny Grewcock 6. Gavin Thomas 7. Adam Vander 8. Nathan Thomas