Bath Make Great Strides Towards A Cup Run

Bath -v- Saints
By Glen Leat
November 15 2003

Bath convincingly beat Northampton Saints 42 - 13 to progress to the Quarter Final stage of the Powergen Cup at the Rec and with two other heavyweight Cup campaigners, Glawster and the Tigers, crashing out, Bath must feel they have a good chance of going all the way to Twickenham.

This was an ideal opportunity for the Saints to exact revenge on Bath for the beating they received earlier in the season: on that occasion it was said that the absence of Andrew Blowers contributed to their downfall but even with him in the side Bath scored more points than ever!

Northampton started the game with much more confidence than last time and the game was tight throughout the first half and it really took until the final quarter for Bath to throw off their shackles and pile on the points. The Saints are clearly not as good a side as everyone was expecting this season but let's not overlook the marvellous defensive play by Bath. There was one occasion in the second half when Northampton attacked the home goal line through nigh on 20 phases but they couldn't break through: against other less rock-like defences I am sure the Saints would have broken through to score.

Bath scored through an early penalty but the Saints were soon on level terms. The visitors should have then taken the lead as Andrew Blowers grabbed the ball just a few yards short of the Bath line but his pass out to the wing lacked the accuracy that would have seen Bruce Reihana dive over for the score. Throughout this early period of play Shane Drahm was playing with the sort of confidence only a reprieved man can have and he was kicking his team in to many attacking positions but unfortunately no one was able to build on his control. However this early confidence visibly drained as Bath piled on the pressure and points and he was a sad figure who trundled off the pitch with 10 minutes to go to be replaced by ex-Bath favourite, Jon Sleightholme.

This match saw Ashley Rowden taking charge of a Bath game for the fourth time this season and his introduction to the crowd by the PA announcer was met with a large amount of booing. Personally I didn't think Rowden had a bad game and I think that most of us who watch rugby on a regular basis (and can lift up the blue, black and white eye-patch) will admit that referees get more decisions right than wrong. On one occasion Rowden penalised David Flatman for hanging on the ball and the people around me all screamed their disagreement, some accusing him of cheating. However, had they actually watched the play in detail they would have seen that David Flatman picked up the ball from the base of a ruck and ran away from his pack, quite simply he was totally isolated. He fell to the ground and placed the ball back to be picked up but no one was there to help him out so he grabbed the ball again. Rowden had the choice of calling a penalty for holding on or, perhaps more correctly, off-side! Come on everyone, lay off the referees except when they make mistakes, it's getting very tiresome and perhaps we need a few supporters' classes on the basics of the laws.

After 28 minutes of play Bath were rewarded with their first try from Wylie Human after he had intercepted a long pass from Nick Beal and dashed 50 yards upfield to finish off with a very spectacular dive. As Olly Barkley was setting up for his conversion attempt Wylie Human's fellow winger, Jamie Hamilton was again leaving the field early to be replaced by recent World Cup returnee, Simon Danielli for his first game of the season. Barkley was successful with his touchline kick and was generally brilliant all afternoon both with boot and in open play: if England are looking to restructure their team after the World Cup I think we can expect to see young Olly involved at international level once again.

From the kick off Andrew Higgins thought he would make a game of it by opting to try a hip swivel in front of his posts instead of booting the ball in to touch. It was only the marvellous defensive skills of his mates that stopped him from being the local villain. But this was the only Higgins' shortfall all afternoon as he played out of his skin in attack and defence: he may look small of stature but he can tackle like a big'un and shows no fear. We may have lost Lee Best for the season but his ex-Bristol colleague is really doing the business!

One area Bath need to work on is finding touch, if Matt Perry and the other backs put the ball down Nick Beal's throat once they must have done it a dozen times, it was almost like a practice session for the attacking side. The Saint's full back has been much underrated outside the walls of Franklin's Gardens throughout his career but even he struggled to make too much of these opportunities, though against a less effective defence than Bath currently possess I am sure he would have made the opposition pay.

Right on half time Zac Fea'unati was sin binned and joined Saint's hooker Dan Richmond on the sidelines after he had been shown the yellow card just before half time. After playing an additional 5 minutes Rowden blew for the break with the score at 16-6 to Bath.

The Bath University Cheerleaders kept the Bath rhythm going during the interval but what was more worrying was the massive gaps on the terraces(sic). Having paid almost fifty quid for my two seats I got the impression that many season ticket holders are having to pick and choose their games. This is a great shame and something the club needs to look at. I'm not sure if the ticket prices are set by the RFU but whoever makes these decisions has to be careful that they are not pricing many spectators out of their sport!

Northampton gave themselves real hope as they started the second half when Bruce Reihana scored a try within a minute of the kick-off. Shane Drahm had kicked aimlessly up-field and Matt Perry caught the ball to start his counter attack. As ever he cut against the grain just before the tackler but he lost the ball on impact, Drahm kicked the ball towards the Bath posts and it was a foot race between Martyn Wood and Reihana. It looked as the Bath scrum half had things covered but somehow the Saintsman scored. This brought the score to 16 - 13 and it seemed to be anyone's game.

However this is "Bath Rugby 2003" and almost from the re-start Robbie Kydd could be found carving his way through the Northampton defence to stretch the lead to 10 points. Simon Danielli then became the third person to be offered a break in the bin by referee Rowden for spoiling the game.

Andy Beattie continued where he left off all season with his bullocking runs and in the 66th minute the yards he gained set up a Matt Perry dash which led to Zac Fea'unati scoring his 4th try of the season. Another touchline conversion from Barkley took the score to 30 - 13 and within a very short space of time Bath had moved out of sight. The Northampton players were visibly wilting and no doubt keen for the game to end, but Bath were not finished with them.

Firstly Martyn Wood made a dash from the half way line, handed the ball on to James Scaysebrook, who had only just replaced Michael Lipman, to score and Bath were 35 - 13 ahead. To round things off for himself and his team, Simon Danielli scored under the posts right on the final whistle - what a day for the returning Scotsman: in the bin, a simple try and an excellent win, not something he was used to last season!

Hey this rugby lark's not half bad is it! My only concern is I am getting complacent and expecting Bath to win every game, it's been a while since I felt like that!

Finally, did anyone notice that Bath played towards the clubhouse in the first half when they normally play towards the Hampton Stand - any ideas why?

Bring on the Quins!

Scorers

Bath: Perry, Higgins, Fleck, Barkley, Williams, Malone, Wood, Flatman, Humphreys, Bell, Borthwick, Fidler, Beattie, Lipman, Fea'unati. 

Referee: Ashley Rowden (RFU).