Irish Eyes Don't Smile On Bath
By Glen Leat
April 24 2002
Bath gave their all against a stronger London Irish side, without any thought of saving themselves for the crucial relegation clash with Leeds on Saturday, but still came up short as they lost 31-15 mainly thanks to the kicking skills of Barry Everitt, playing his fiftieth match for the Irish.
There was certainly enough passion within
the Bath team to warm the cockles of any
coach but unfortunately they could not turn
this desire to win into a victory against
a strong Irish pack and well drilled defence.
With Barry Everitt making Bath pay for every
error by kicking eight penalties out of nine
and Michael Horack running in for the only
try of the game, Bath needed a lot more penetration
than has been available all of this season
and unsurprisingly they came up short.
With Iain Balshaw switching to fly half,
both out of necessity and a bit of desperation
as the Bath coaching staff tried to make
things happen in their team, and Mark Gabey
replacing Steve Borthwick in the second row,
Bath kept the Irish down to six points a-piece
up to the half hour but with Horacks' try
and (unsurprisingly) Everitts' conversion
suddenly the Guinness drinkers moved to a
13-6 lead. However Olly Barkley was determined
not to be out done by his opposing kicker
and slotted home a couple of long and very
difficult penalties whilst Iain Balshaw played
out a lovely little cameo with a couple of
audacious drop goals - enough to bring a
smile to the faces of the blue, black and
white fans on an otherwise disappointing
evening.
A half time score of 13-12 to the home side
was somewhat flattering to the visitors but
it meant they were still in the game and,
perhaps more importantly, within touching
distance of a very important losing bonus
point. But that extra point was to once again
elude Bath as London Irish pulled away to
a score of 31-15 as Everitt finished Bath
off with his boot; he literally gave the
West Countrymen a damn good kicking!
It was good to see Gareth Cooper come back
on to the scene after 50 minutes, replacing
the worryingly pedestrian Dalzell, but the
little Welsh wizard could not be expected
to make a difference in such circumstances;
still at least he didn't go off injured as
he did the last time he returned from a spell
out of the game.
We have four games left, beating Leeds is
essential because the other games are damned
hard!
So how did you predict the score for this
match in our poll?
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Click on to the London Irish Rivals.Net site for their perspective on
things.
Have a look at the latest league table.
So what did you think of the Bath players
in this game? Give a rating and this will
contribute to a cumulative score throughout
the season.
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Bath scorers
Tries:
Cons:
Pens: Barkley 3
Drop Goal: Balshaw 2
Bath
Rob Thirlby, Simon Danielli, Mike Tindall,
Olly Barkley, Tom Voyce, Iain Balshaw, Kevin
Dalzell, Simon Emms, Andy Long, John Mallett,
Mark Gabey, Danny Grewcock, Gavin Thomas,
James Scaysebrooke, Dan Lyle
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