Northampton Do Double Over Bath
By Glen Leat
April 24 2002
Well that money spent on a "bonding break" at Redwood Lodge last week really looks like it's paid dividends, instead of losing 33-11 we only lost 29-11 - progress is being made! Despite this setback Bath will not be relegated, but only because Quins are even worse than we are.
Comments have already been left on the Messageboard
about the players looking better this week
and being more motivated; I think you are
right about the motivation but I'm not so
sure about the play being better. Excepting
an exciting little spell in the middle of
the second half when Voyce joined the game
and Balshaw moved to fly-half, Bath were
a pale shadow of a top class rugby team and
it was only because Northampton themselves
were not in top form that we kept them below
thirty points. The soft try we gave away
at the end was almost comical, except I didn't
see many Bath fans laughing as they held
their heads in their hands in total despair.
Our passing is so poor, with the receiver
generally having to stretch to make the catch,
and this leads to fumbles or being easily
tackled by an opponent. If Foley wants to
focus on a bonding session I suggest he goes
back to two of the basics of rugby - good
passing and strong tackling - as we seem
very poor in this department at present.
He also might like to tell Kevin Dalzell
that Bath play better at pace and so getting
the ball out of a scrum or a ruck at speed
is what we need not all this slow and deliberate
stuff.
In the short time he was on the pitch, Tom
Voyce made more runs than Thirlby or Danielli
put together and he also managed to break
tackles; of course he also scored Bath's
only try of the game. Amazing then that this
lad was not in the starting line-up.
Poor Olly Barkley, any semblance of confidence
this lad may have had at the start of the
season has surely been well and truly knocked
out of him by having to step in to the shoes
of Mike Catt. The lad could not have kicked
the skin off a rice pudding today as he both
fluffed his kicks at goal and punts to touch;
if his touch kicks had been any shorter they
would have gone behind him! I liked the idea
of bringing Balshaw up to Number Ten in place
of Barkley as I believe he is a player who
needs to be in the thick of things and also
to get the ball quickly so that his natural
footballing brain can work automatically
without having a couple of seconds to think
"run or kick?" and then doing neither
(or both) and getting hammered by the opposition.
Michael Foley said earlier in the week that
this was the start of a new six game season.
Well Michael, I don't want to worry you but
we lost the first four games of the "old"
season and is one of the major factors behind
our current predicament. Looking at the fixture
list for the rest of the season I reckon
that we stand a good chance of losing to
London Irish, will beat Leeds, will lose
to Newcastle and Glawster and all of this
will set up a "Cup Final" against
Wasps to determine whether we will stay up
or go down.
Finally there has been a great deal of talk
about the ownership of our club and Coochie
Coo has whet our appetites again on this
subject on the Messageboard. Let's have a
look at the final vote on whether you felt
Andrew Brownsword should sell the club to
someone else:
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Click on to the Northampton Saints 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 Player Ratings` Click below to have your vote Vote Now |
And what about the performance of the referee?
Vote Now to leave your opinion.
Bath scorers
Tries: Voyce
Cons:
Pens: Barkley 1, Tindall 1
Drop Goal:
Bath
Iain Balshaw, Simon Danielli, Alex Crockett,
Mike Tindall, Rob Thirlby, Olly Barkley,
Kevin Dalzell, David Barnes, Andy Long, John
Mallett, Steve Borthwick, Danny Grewcock,
Gavin Thomas, James Scaysebrooke, Dan Lyle
What do you think about this game? Leave
your views on the BathRugbyERE.com Messageboard