Voyce Uses Bath's "Get Out of Jail" Card
Winner
By Glen Leat
April 26 2003
"It's not over until the fat lady sings!" crowed the cocky Londoner at the Bath fans streaming out of the Rec with their side losing and apparently going out of the Parker Pen Cup. However he didn't realise at the time that the fat lady's name was Tom Voyce and he sang a duet with Olly Barkley!
It's ironic that in a season when Bath have
regularly struggled to cross the whitewash
they should qualify for the Parker Pen Cup
Final on the strength of scoring more tries
over the two semi-final legs than Saracens.
With the game standing at 20 - 19 to Bath
in the 86th minute there can have been few
spectators who really thought Bath would
be facing Wasps at the Madejski Stadium on
25th May but this was a return to the days
of old when a Bath Cup side was not out of
a competition until the final whistle was
blown and this type of heart and commitment
bodes well for the Premiership run-in over
the next couple of weeks.
Excepting the final few moments when Saracens
could not stop Tom Voyce crashing over for
his try and Olly Barclay kicking Bath in
to the PPC Final, the second half was a real
disappointment for Bath given the excellent
start they had made over the first forty
minutes. Whereas in the first half the backs
had tried out new moves and they worked,
the Saracen's lineout was completely disrupted
and the visitors were generally on the back
foot the second half was a catalogue of Bath
errors.
The game started with an early trading of
penalties but Bath were in the ascendancy
tactically and territorially and it was no
surprise when ex-Sarrie, Danny Grewcock,
scored the opening try of the game. Gareth
Cooper kept the pace of the Bath game moving
along nicely throughout the game and it was
a little bit of trickery between the Welsh
scrum half and Mike Tindall that opened up
a great hole in the Sarries defence for Grewcock
to run through. This score brought a great
roar of booing from the Fez Boys in the Sheep
Pen who enjoyed their own form of wit all
afternoon; unfortunately the art of original
comedy appears to have bypassed our friends
at Watford and at times I ached for the days
of the knowledgeable Southgate crowd who
used to follow their club.
Matt Perry left the field soon after with
an injury and was replaced by Tom Voyce with
Iain Balshaw filling in at full back. Poor
old Balsh suffered with the high balls all
afternoon and was clearly uncomfortable with
the Saracens tactic of bombing him with balls.
They bounced off his head, chin and shoulder
and the ball did everything but stick to
Balsh's hands. But he got through the game
(apparently) unscathed and this has to be
the bonus we were looking for from this game.
Tom Voyce also looked sharp and made several
penetrating runs out of defence to add to
his try to remind the coaching staff that
he still has a role to play at The Rec.
Just after the half hour mark Elvis scored
again, taking his tally to 3 for the tie,
after a nice lineout move involving David
Barnes and Gareth Cooper confused the defenders
and set up the Samoan for his score. David
Barnes, starting his 26th game of the season,
again looked in good form and has to be a
strong contender for the Supporters' Club
Player of the Season.
Throughout the first half Saracens looked
static and their lineout play was clearly
missing the cleverness and reliability of
Richard Hill. With Bath heading off for their
cup of tea 17 - 3 ahead the game looked good
for a West Country victory.
The second half started badly for Bath with
O'Mahony scoring Saracens' only try of the
game and taking a 17 - 18 cumulative lead.
Things got worse when Olly Barkley hit the
post with a very kickable penalty and the
Saracens defenders decided a spoiling game
was their best bet to secure victory. After
getting away with two deliberate knock-ons
when Bath had a reasonable opportunity to
score, referee McHugh lost patience and sin
binned one of the Sarries flankers (mind
you from where I was sitting it looked as
though he binned the wrong bloke).
Fat Boy Shane Warne look-alike, Andy Goode,
then replaced Kyran Bracken and turned things
around for Saracens. His entry to the field
reminded me of a game many years ago when
Paul Turner played a similar "midfield
dynamo" role for Sale and tore a great
Bath team apart. Goode played like his name
and kicked intelligently for position keeping
Bath on the back foot. He even managed a
deep drop goal to break the hearts of the
Bath supporters who cold see their chance
of glory this season rapidly disappearing
before their eyes. I have to say that if
Andy Goode lost some weight so his mobility
was more than a mere trundle he could be
a real asset to Saracens.
And there the game stood, seconds remaining
and Bath leading 20 - 19 and heading for
obscurity when up pops Tom Voyce to shut
up the wise-cracking Fez Boys and bring tears
to the eyes to cynical old Bath supporters
who thought they had seen it all before.
Hey, we're in the Final!!!!
It's a great game this rugby!!!!
So what did you think of the Bath players
in this game? Vote by clicking on to here
| Second Leg Bath 27 Tries: Voyce, Seveali'i, Grewcock Pens: Barkley 2 Cons: Barkley 3 Saracens 19 Tries: O'Mahony Pens: Little 1, Goode 2 Cons: Little 3 DG: Goode 1 |
|
First Leg
Saracens 38
Tries: Sparg, Haughton, Shanklin, Johnston Pens: Little 3, Goode Cons: Little 3 Bath 30
Tries: Voyce, Seveali'i 2 Pens: Barkley 3 Cons: Barkley 3 |
Aggregate scores level at full time - Bath
win on greater number of tries scored
Bath: Perry, Seveali'i, Tindall, Maggs, Balshaw, Barkley, Cooper, Barnes, Long, Mallett, Borthwick, Grewcock, G. Thomas, Beattie, N.Thomas.