Bath Commit Seven Deadly Sins Against Saints
Saints Action(sic)!
By Glen Leat
March 15 2003
After a massive victory against Saracens two weeks ago, Bath Rugby reverted to type and played the poorest rugby of the season as they capitulated to Northampton Saints 10-27 at the Rec. Once again Bath failed to break the hoodoo that is known by the name of "Winning two games in a row"
Pope Gregory the Great described the Seven Deadly Sins in his Moralia in Job as being:
| Pride |
| Envy |
| Anger |
| Avarice |
| Sadness |
| Gluttony |
| Lust |
Following the most awful display by Bath
Rugby against the Northampton Saints at the
Rec on Saturday 15th March 2003 Pope Glen
the Bewildered would like to replace these
sins with a new set, namely:
| Poor tackling |
| Not finding touch |
| Shocking passing |
| Lack of ball control |
| Laboured lineouts |
| Inability to score |
| Indecisive play |
and today Bath Rugby committed all of these
sins again and again.
It all started for Bath with a sunny afternoon,
no Steve Lander and following a great win
against Saracens. Referee Roy Maybank was
the man in charge when we sneaked a win against
London Irish at the start of the season so
things looked good; then it happened...the
decision that probably cost us the game -
we played the wrong way! Against Sarries
we played to the club house in the first
half but today we played towards the Hamptons
Stand, enough said! In these days of "riding
your luck" the last thing we needed
was to jinx ourselves before a ball was kicked.
Forget arguing over the reasons for Catty's
poor display, Mear's lack of confidence and
Olly Barkley looking like he had never play
at full-back before, the simple reason was
we played the wrong way. If the coaches do
nothing else this season they must ensure
Bath play towards the club house in the first
half.
All season we have witnessed some poor play
by Bath in every game but today the players
excelled by packaging all of their flaws
together in one mind-numbing performance;
if you thought we had been poor before you
had seen nothing until today. As in previous
games Bath dominated for the first 20 minutes
and did everything but score; then the Saints
were handed three point scoring penalties
in as many minutes and were 9-0 up without
breaking sweat.
Things just got worse and worse until eventually
no one would have been surprised to see the
Keystone Cops dash across the pitch proudly
wearing Bath shirts. Tom Voyce did a marvellous
impression of a man who has never seen a
rugby ball before as the cleared Grayson
kick bounced around him like a drunkard on
a pogo stick. Barkley also failed to clear
his lines on most occasions instead trying
to run from defence in to a sea of green
jerseys. Lee Mears took so long at a line-out
that he was penalised and Bath lost their
attacking advantage. Almost all of the players
passed in a style that would not be out of
place in an Under Eight's game of touch rugby
(my apologies to all Under Eight teams for
comparing you to Bath Rugby).
If the Bath play wasn't enough to wind us
all up what about the ludicrous situation
of nine waterboys running on to the field
to attend to the Northampton players; I know
the sun was out but surely the Saints cannot
have been that de-hydrated! I half-expected
Matt Dawson to crawl across the pitch to
the bench crying painfully, "water,
water, I must have water".
To cap it all off we then had to watch Mark
Connors have a go at Danny Grewcock in a
ruck and then do likewise to Steve Borthwick
as he tried to calm Connors and the referee
binned both Connors (rightly) and Grewcock
(wrongly). Thank God Connors did not come
to our club, he is in good company at Northampton
judging by the comments appearing on our
Messageboard this week from some Saints fans!
The one crumb of comfort was watching Elvis
dash 60 yards up the wing Balshaw-style but
this has to be balanced by the dubious nature
of his defence - I think a few tackle bags
had better come out in training next week
Elvis old son!
Whilst I am devastated by the Bath play today
this pales into insignificance when compared
to the comments made by Andrew Brownsword
in the match programme. This man, who has
spent a (personal) fortune on our club is
clearly hacked off - and why not. In return
for his investment he gets grief from all
quarters and is accused by some of supporting
Bath for the wrong reasons. Given the high
disappearance factor of many other club owners
over the past five years I think we should
do everything possible to hang on to this
guy. Now I know I am a "nobody"
in the grand scheme of things but I appreciate
what you have done for my club Andrew and
I know many others (the silent majority)
feel similar; whatever the difficulties please
stand by us and we will stand by you. Perhaps
it will be helpful if a few others who follow
Bath Rugby started saying the same!
Right I'm off to get hammered.
Let's look at the result of your prediction
for this game:
|
43%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: Voyce
Cons: Barkley 1
Pens: Barkley 1
Drop Goal:
Bath:
15. Olly Barkley 14. Elvis Seveali’i 13. Mike Tindall 12. Mike Catt 11. Tom Voyce 10. Chris Malone 9. Andy Williams 1. David Barnes 2. Lee Mears
3. John Mallett 4. Steve Borthwick 5. Danny Grewcock 6. Andy Beattie 7. Adam Vander 8. Nathan Thomas