Top Versus Bottom On Sunday
By Glen Leat
January 2 2004
Bath travel to Millmoor to play Rotherham on Sunday in a repeat top versus bottom scenario both teams experienced last October. Coach John Connolly has named the strongest team available to him as he knows Bath have to win well if they are to maintain this top spot for the rest of the season.
In his chat with the official Bath Rugby site coach Connolly said ‘We fully expect a tough match up there,’ said Connolly. ‘Rotherham are a very passionate side and their performance level has been rapidly rising in recent weeks. I’ve said before that they can beat teams at this level and we’re just going to try and keep momentum going forward and concentrate on our own game.’
In the same way that Bath are suffering from a catalogue of injuries, Rotherham are experiencing illness and injury. Rawson (neck), Wood (illness), Elliott (glandular fever), Strange (illness), Ewens (broken toe), Noon's (calf) Jason Keyter (shoulder) and Volschenk (infected leg wound). Ex-Bath prop Dan Dorsey is also on the bench.
In the games I have seen Rotherham play this season they look to be better
than the scores and their league position suggests so it will be tight for the
first half of the game: hopefully the Bath backs will be able to take full advantage
of the possession secured by the hard working forwards and we will walk away
with the crucial bonus scoring point.
Bath Team
15. Wylie Human
14. Andrew Higgins
13. Kevin Maggs
12. Alex Crockett
11. Simon Danielli
10. Olly Barkley
9. Martyn Wood
1. David Flatman
2. Jonathan Humphreys
3. Duncan Bell
4. Steve Borthwick
5. Danny Grewcock (c)
6. Andy Beattie
7. Michael Lipman
8. Zak Feaunati
16. Hentie Martens
17. Lee Mears
18. David Barnes
19. Ross Blake
20. Gareth Knox
21. James Scaysbrook/Scott Gray
22. Rob Fidler
Rotherham Squad
Stortoni, Pieters, Pritchard, Umaga, Blackett, Benson, Easterby (C), Lloyd, Long, Olckers, van Zyl, Gross, Tuavii, Macleod-Henderson, Lewis.
Replacements - Johnson, Dorsey, Kenworthy, van der Merwe, Rhodes, Jones, Jorgensen.
Click here to see the report of last game.
Click here to see the latest league table.
In preparation for this clash let's have a look at a few recent statistics:
Form Guide
| Rotherham | L | L | L | L | L | |
| Bath | W | W | W | W | W |
| Played | 3 | % |
| Bath Won | 3 | 100 |
| Rotherham | 0 | 0 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
Biggest Win
| Bath | 68 - 12 | 14 Apr 2001 |
| Rotherham |
Last Meetings (Bath scores first)
| 11 Oct 2003 | 47-3 | The Rec |
| 14 Apr 2001 | 68-12 | Clifton Lane |
| 26 Nov 2000 | 42 - 19 | The Rec |