Bath Sink To Foot Of Table At Wasps

Action
By Glen Leat
April 6 2003

Bath took a hiding from Wasps at Adams Park, losing 36-17 whilst close relegation rivals London Irish grabbed victory at Saracens thanks to a late Barry Everitt penalty. This leaves Bath once again propping up the league table and Thursday's clash at the Rec of vital importance for the home side.

Few Bath fans expected a win against Wasps but they hoped their team would use it as a good opportunity to hone their skills(sic) in readiness for the "eight pointer" against London Irish later this week. However the Bath display was disappointing with few areas of play worth a mention and the Australian coaches must wonder what they have to do to instil the winning mentality required to ensure Premiership rugby is being played at the Rec next season. Bath have managed just three wins in their last ten games and there is a good possibility they could go the rest of the season without enjoying the positive side of the scoreboard.

Bath allowed Wasps to grab an unassailable 23 - 0 lead by half-time through tries by Worsly and Abbott and despite an early second half comeback thanks to a Simon Danielli touchdown, Wasps were never in trouble and all Gareth Cooper's late try did was to cancel out John Rudd's score for the Londoners in the 75th minute. Bath started the match with Chris Malone at fly-half and Mike Catt in the centre but once again this option did not work and Malone was taken off at half-time and Catt moved up to the No 10 spot and initially this made a difference; but this was not to last.

You can't blame the coaches for trying this formation because Chris Malone should be capable of playing the link game with Catty on his shoulder to offer support and advice, but what has been clear through the year is that the young Aussie is not up to this standard of rugby and has to be placed in the "not living up to his potential" category. Whether Malone has a long term future at Bath is anyone's guess but it looks as though the best he can do is warm the bench and hope for the odd game when others are injured.

Bath didn't need any more injury worries and they will be concerned about their ability to field a recognised side with Tom Voyce leaving the field with a leg injury to join Mike Tindall, Matt Perry and Iain Balshaw in the treatment room. Bath are now in deep trouble (he says stating the obvious) and a loss against London Irish will make staying in the Premiership a very tall order indeed.

On this form any punters out there will not be putting too much money on the blue, black and whites.

Let's look at the result of your prediction for this game:

Question: Will Bath beat Wasps? Yes 19% No 80% Draw 0% Don't Know 1%

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:

Voyce (18, Barkley) , Danielli, Seveali'i, Catt, Maggs, Malone (40, Davey) , Cooper, Barnes, Humphreys (49, Thomas) , Mallett (40, Galasso) , Borthwick, Grewcock, Thomas (41, Mears) , Beattie, Thomas (56, Delve) ,

Wasps
Van Gisbergen, Lewsey, Waters (67, Erinle) , Abbott, Rudd, King (69, Logan) , Wood, Dowd, Leota (40, Greening) , Green (77, McKenzie) , Shaw, Birkett, Worsley, Volley, Dallaglio (37, Scrivener)