Masterly Catt Saves Bath
Success At Last
By Glen Leat
January 18 2003
Bath Rugby moved in to the last four of the Parker Pen Cup thanks to the mastery of Sir Michael of Catt and the medical staff who got him fit after a continuous hamstring injury. A narrow 24-18 win on the day led to an even narrower aggregate win of 48-45 - phew!
Bath were not at the races in the first half
and left the field after forty minutes looking
dejectedly at the 6 -15 scoreboard. And this
was all set to continue until Mike Catt entered
the game after 55 minutes. Unfortunately
for Bath, it was what looked like a serious
injury to Iain Balshaw's shoulder which forced
the Catt substitution as the coaches could
see that they needed a match winner to shock
their team out of the torpor they were enduring
for almost an hour. Tom Voyce had actually
replaced the England full-back but he was
not going to make a difference so Alex Crockett
then had to be sacrificed to make way for
the great man.
Catt has not played since last November and
even then he did not look at his best but
today the man with the paws seemed to exorcise
all the demons that have been troubling him
this year. As he trotted on to the pitch
Bath were 9 - 18 down in the game and 33
- 45 down on aggregate and had just 25 minutes
to keep the West Country club in this second
tier European Trophy; the fans could almost
see Michael Foley standing on the touchline
with dice in hand ready to see if he could
throw a double six.
And what a difference Catt made, within a
minute of joining the fray he grabbed the
ball and broke free of the defenders to score
a try. Had there been a roof on the Rec (some
chance!) it would have lifted off as Catty
crossed the line. Two minutes later Catt
was on hand again to feed Nathan Thomas for
Bath's second try. And even right at the
end Catt delivered a reverse pass for Danielli
to have a run at the line but this time there
was no score at the end of this magic.
But all this try furore just tied the aggregate
scores and it was once again our Mr Reliable,
Olly Barkley, who ensured our passage through
to the semi-finals with a successful penalty.
Montauban had a chance right at the end to
tie the score and take the match in to extra
time but they missed a difficult penalty
kick at goal.
Bath will now take a keen interest in the
Newcastle -v- Saracens match as one of these
two teams will be the opposition in the semi-final.
Today's game will add to the growing debate
about the ability of the coaches to get the
best out of a potentially good team and of
course having to fall back on Mike Catt to
get us out of a hole when we need the youngsters
to be delivering the goods. Get ready for
the Messageboard to be humming over the next
couple of days.
Next week against Northampton will be a toughie!
Bath scorers
Tries: Catt, N. Thomas
Cons: Barkley (1)
Pens: Barkley (4)
Drop Goal:
Bath: