Great Win Keeps Bath In The Top Flight
By Glen Leat
May 11 2003
The size of the roar was only matched by the pace of the pulse as every Bath fan at The Rec cheered the successful penalty kick from Olly Barkley to give Bath a winning 24-12 lead over Newcastle. News from the Madejski brought a tear to every Bath eye as we knew we were safe from relegation.
I felt emotionally drained as I walked away
from The Rec; discussions about a merger
with Bristol, Bath losing to Newcastle and
the subsequent relegation had dominated pre-match
talk with friends and I thought I would be
delirious if we won but I wasn't and I couldn't
understand why. It was only after watching
the game again on video and listening to
a grim faced Catty talk about the need for
change at the very top of Bath Rugby that
things started to hit home. We are the most
successful English club side of the modern
era yet we have endured two seasons of relegation
trauma despite having countless internationals
in our team, things have got to change.
Yet the only change that appeared to be on
the cards prior to this match was the obscene
merger (or take over) business with Bristol,
the possibility of many of our "top"
players walking away and visiting Division
One grounds. One of the headlines I was preparing
to write for this report before the game
started was "You Got Us Relegated, Now
Get Us Promoted!" obviously aimed at
the under-performing players and another
was "All This Useless Beauty",
a line pinched from an Elvis Costello album
and summing up the fact that despite the
gorgeous surroundings of The Rec we still
played ugly rugby each week. Thankfully neither
of these headlines have been used, instead
we can bask in the pleasure of having watched
Bath Rugby once again rise to the occasion,
seeing the players play out of their skins
and securing our place in the Premiership
next year. When you spend a few moments gazing
around the ground, soaking up the splendour
of the scenery, there is no way that Ashton
Gate can match the beauty of The Rec; it
is our home both spiritually and physically
and it is where we want to play all our matches!
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| The beauty of rugby at The Recreation Ground |
The afternoon got of to a great start as
a player from the old school, John Mallett,
led the team out for his swansong at The
Rec. Here was a prop from the Chilcott, Lee
and Ubogu school and someone deserving of
the applause he received on entering the
arena and leaving it after 50 minutes to
be replaced by perhaps the most exciting
forward to join the blue, black and white
in years - Matt Stevens.
In recent weeks Bath have dominated the first
10 minutes of each game and got nowhere,
on this occasion they were penned back by
the visitors and ended up 0-6 down following
an early Wilkinson drop goal and penalty.
The omens were good as Bath have (historically)
generally preferred to chase a game than
set the pace. However they broke this rule
after 12 minutes when Tom Voyce picked up
the ball on the Newcastle twenty-two following
a defensive error, fed Gareth Cooper who
set up Iain Balshaw to run in the sort of
try not seen from the young Lancastrian for
several seasons - a quick shuffle of the
feet and shoulders saw Balshaw duck between
three defenders and run in under the posts;
brilliant!
But still Newcastle looked good, appearing
to play a faster game than Bath with Jonny
Wilkinson whipping out bullet paced passes
to his backs, unfortunately for the England
superstar his colleagues could not match
his quality and squandered many chances early
in the game. However Newcastle re-gained
the lead after 25 minutes with another Wilkinson
penalty and Bath could easily have capitulated
at this stage. Whilst having a fair share
of possession the home side gave up the ball
too easily, a good example of this was when
Gareth Cooper passed from the scrum to...no
one and it was only thanks to a Stephenson
fumble when Newcastle gained possession that
the Welshman's blushes were spared.
But Bath did not give in to their frailties
this time and Tom Voyce scored a second try
moments before half time after Jonathan Humphreys
took on the centre role and acted as a link
between Barkley and Balshaw before the flying
winger set up Voyce so he could demonstrate
to the Newcastle fullback the fine art of
"beating the defender", brilliant
stuff which left everyone asking "Why
wait until the final game of the season to
turn on the skill?".
A half time score of 14 - 9 was about right
but with Bath managing two tries in 40 minutes
the concept of a bonus point was on the cards
- blimey!
Jonny Wilkinson immediately put the wind
up the home side with a second drop goal
after 41 minutes but Bath thought they had
hit back with a second Balshaw try a few
minutes later only for referee Chris White
to re-call the Bath full-back for bumping
in to a colleague on his way to the line.
However the frustration of this call was
only to last for a few moments when Tom Voyce
pinched the ball from a Newcastle ruck, fed
Dan Lyle who set up Nathan Thomas for another
try. The crowd went wild and perhaps for
the first time this season we could see things
working out for us.
The rest of the game disappeared in a haze
for Bath fans, with plenty of snatched glances
at watches, those with radios feeding news
of the London Irish -v- Bristol game and
thoughts of survival having teetered on the
very brink of the abyss. We've been to enough
Cup Finals where Bath have left it late and
this was no different and finally the boys
came through with the win that secured a
Premiership position next season.
So we had done it, beaten Newcastle and survived
the ignominy of relegation; but at what cost?
Whatever happens to Bath Rugby in the future
it will never be the same again. Perhaps
too many of us are dreaming of days gone
by when rugby was a sport for the players
to be enjoyed by supporters. Today we have
a business venture that stands or falls on
the strength of financial viability where
the players are a commodity and the supporters
are customers who can take or leave the product
supplied by the owners.
Bath Rugby plc may be surprised at the number
of season ticket holders who do not renew
their membership(sic) next season but perhaps
they're not bothered because they know that
in the long term those of us who refuse to
follow a merged club or who are just sick
of the pathetic organisation of modern rugby
will be replaced by a new generation of sports
fans. If this week's treatment of Rotherham
is anything to go by I'm not sure if I want
to carry on following rugby and perhaps that's
the reason I felt so emotionally drained
as I left The Rec today!
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Key
| League Position | |
| European Cup Winners | |
| Cup Winners |
Let's have a look at the final league table.
So what did you think of the Bath players
in this game? Vote by clicking on to here
Bath scorers
Tries: Balshaw, Voyce, N. Thomas
Cons: Barkley 3
Pens: Barkley 1
Drop Goal:
Bath: Balshaw; Seveali'i, Maggs, Tindall, Voyce;
Barkley, Cooper; Barnes, Humphreys, Mallett,
Beattie, Grewcock, G Thomas, N Thomas, Lyle.
Replacements: Blake, Mears, Stevens, Catt,
Danielli, Scaysbrook, Delve.
Newcastle: Shaw; May, Noon, Mayerhofler, Stephenson;
J Wilkinson, Grindal; Peel, Makin, Hurter,
Hamilton, Vyvyan, Newby, Mower, Arnold.
Replacements: Botham, Walder, Charlton, Dowson,
Ward, Dunbar, Thompson.