Grewcock Off As Bath Lose In Final To Wasps

By Glen Leat
May 26 2003

Danny Grewcock was sent off for hitting Lawrence Dallaglio and Kevin Maggs was binned for kicking Dallaglio making the uphill task that much steeper as underdogs, Bath, tried in vein to keep up with a rampant Wasps team that must now be favourites to beat Glawster in the Championship decider.

The final result of 30-48 in Wasps favour shows Bath having scored four tries, something we have been trying to do all year without much success but it still wasn't enough and the carnival atmosphere the Bath supporters had enjoyed until 3.45pm was soon dampened when the Londoners scored 24 unanswered points following an early Barkley penalty that saw Bath take the lead for the one and only time in the match.

As the 18,000 crowd waited for the teams to arrive for battle the Bath contingent cheered and roared their approval at every mention of Bath and its players. This was a glimpse of the memories we enjoyed for so many years in the eighties and nineties and we wanted more. However I was disappointed by some of the antics of part of our crowd; those who booed the announcement of the Wasps team and jeered as Alex King kicked for goal should be ashamed of themselves. Wearing a replica shirt and turning up for finals does not make a Bath supporter it makes a follower and we need supporters; showing no respect for the opposition shows no respect for our club, our players and our "genuine" supporters and at times I was embarrassed. One chap behind me staggered up the stairs to his seat carrying the obligatory boxful of lager moaning, "That's taken me half an hour to get these beers" (expletives deleted). "So what!" you might say, that's the experience of big matches! Yes it is but this his lost half hour was the first 30 minutes of the game!

Lawrence Dallaglio made a massive impression on the game and alongside his England back row team mate, Joe Worsley, disrupted everything Bath tried to do. Clearly the Wasps skipper took a fair bit of flak from the Bath team and many Bath fans will bemoan our opponent's skipper refereeing the game but let's face it, he plays the game to the limit just like some of our back row forwards did in our glory days so I say good luck to him. The fact that a weak referee was on the pitch for this bruising encounter is not the fault of Dallaglio and if our players are insufficiently disciplined to find it necessary to foul an opponent they have to take what is coming to them. Unfortunately for us, Danny Grewcock has a tendency to explode during volatile matches and we need our skipper on the pitch for the last 20 minutes not off it awaiting a summary ERC disciplinary hearing. A definite change in this post for next season methinks!

Wasps hit Bath from the off with several waves of attacking play and it seemed as thought Bath would be easily overrun in the opening minutes. But the Bath defence was solid and when Olly Barkley lifted the Bath crowd with the opening score of the game it suddenly appeared to be "game on" for Bath. However within three minutes of this score Kevin Maggs was languishing on the sidelines in the bin and a minute later Alex King drew the scores at 3-3 with the first of his two penalties. And then a three try haul from Wasps started with Lewsey, Waters and Greening all scoring, the last one coming from the Glawster-bound Greening as he intercepted a disappointing Barkley pass.

There is no doubt that Wasps were the better side but their cause was helped by some very strange refereeing by Welshman Nigel Williams. The number of Wasp's off-sides he missed were too many to count and on giving Bath a penalty in front of the Wasps line he played an advantage for less than 5 seconds before deciding Bath no longer should be awarded anything. The next play saw Greening intercept Barkley's attempt at a Mike Catt long pass, with the same result as when Catty tries it, so Williams's decision was a double blow for the Bath players and supporters.

In what was probably Gareth Cooper's last game for Bath the little Welshman had a shocker and was totally overshadowed by the man reportedly replacing him. Cooper continued his season's fascination of mucking about at the back of the scrum and he regularly made errors of judgement when trying to release his backs. Twice Cooper opted to box kick in to space when the whole of his team (yes all 14 of them) were on the opposite side to where he kicked!

With the half-time score at 13 - 24, following a Barkley try and another penalty just before the break, Bath knew they had to score first in the second half but we were soon disappointed. After a Wasps attack had been spoiled by the referee getting in the way of a passing move, Martyn Wood grabbed the ball from the (collapsed) resultant scrum to run in for the score. At 13 - 31 down Bath were in deep trouble and the beer boys behind me were starting to calculate how many lagers they could quaff before the final whistle.

Bath hit back with a Scaysbrook try but Wasps kept the score difference at 20 points with a try from Kenny Logan. This after the referee ignored the fact that a Bath player had been tackled by an offside Wasps defender in the Londoners' twenty-two and the next play saw Logan score. The frustration was getting too much; Wasps were sufficiently superior throughout the game not to require a helping hand from Nigel Williams and the Bath crowd (this time justifiably) booed him as he continually missed the Wasps infringements.

Mike Catt arrived on the scene with just 24 minutes left and although both Tindall and Balshaw scored late tries it was too late and Wasps ran out easy winners.

All in all this was an exciting game of rugby to watch and we were well beaten by a good Wasps team. Bath will be making changes for next season as this game demonstrated that we need to and we can only hope that a clutch of new signings will bring something different to our game. At present we more closely resemble a lumbering team from 20 years ago as opposed to the fast and furious teams who are beating us all too regularly. Personally I think all of this stems from the back row and scrum half play; their brains and hands are insufficiently fast to make an impact on the opposition and it is too easy to predict our next move.

Despite all what has been said above it was a good day out, meeting up with some old friends and we had some silverware to play for. Let's now lay this season to rest in an old shoe box marked "Never to be opened again" and start planning for our new campaign.

Hey it's nearly June, Bath Rugby will be asking for our season ticket money in a few weeks - bargain!

Bath 30 (13) Tries: Barkley, Scaysbrook, Tindall, Balshaw Cons: Barkley, Balshaw Pens: Barkley 2 Wasps 48 (24) Tries: Lewsey, Waters, Greening, Wood, Logan, Leota Cons: King 6 Pens: King 2