It's Grim Up North - Bath Go Out Of Cup At Leeds

By Glen Leat
February 28 2004

After dominating the domestic Cup competition for years, Bath suddenly find themselves failing to get past the quarter-final for the eighth year on the trot. In this game the Bath we know did not turn up, Leeds Tykes took their opportunities and won 21-10.

Leeds go on to face Sale in the semi-final and Bath have three weeks in which to reflect on today's performance. The simple fact is the Bath backs did not do the business in all areas. The half-backs struggled to provide a link between forwards and backs, the three-quarters found their handling skills had deserted them and our normally strong defence was breached twice for very soft tries. Firstly after 21 minutes when Phil Christophers ghosted past Crockett, Tindall and Balshaw and again after 63 minutes when Christophers scored again from a charged down clearance kick.

The second try could be described as a bit of a calamity: Gordon Ross' penalty kick was caught by Steve Borthwick in front of the cross bar and he passed it on to his backs expecting a simple clearance. Unfortunately the kick was not crisp and Leeds killed off the game with the resulting try.

Despite an injury scare to Duncan Bell this week and with Steve Borthwick back from a two week suspension Bath started the game with seven of their first choice pack available: just David Flatman missed the game, being replaced by David Barnes. The visitors therefore expected to see plenty of the ball and, with the international backs returning to club rugby, there was some anticipation in the blue, black and white ranks of a chance to reach the semi-finals. It's been a long time since Bath fans have made what was once an annual pilgrimage to Twickenham and this year's route seemed easier than usual given that Bath have beaten Leeds twice already this season.

"We see this competition as another opportunity to secure a place in the Heineken Cup next season. We would all love a trip to Twickenham." said coach Connolly before the game. But the wheels came off this particular bandwagon almost from the moment the Bath players crossed the whitewash. In addition to the poor handling, Olly Barkley's kicking was off colour, Mike Catt was struggling to control his game let alone "the" game and the general play was scrappy all over the field.

Iain Balshaw again struggled to re-gain the confidence he needs to play to his best, though he did score a very late try which gave the visitors some hope of a late comeback. However a final successful penalty by Gordon Ross put pay to a Lazarus style return to form.

We have failed to get beyond the Cup quarter-finals since beating Leicester in the 1996 final but this is not the end of the world. It has been noticeable that the performances have deteriorated since Christmas but all teams go through a rough patch in a season and it is for the coaches and players to get us back on to winning ways. Calling for the heads of certain players is not helpful: successful sport is based on form and form is often based on confidence. Let's trust Knuckles and his crew to rediscover the same winning habit we enjoyed between September and December and not embark on the sort of knee-jerk support we see so often in other sports.

Our next game is away to London Irish. We will go there and win and continue our aim of topping the table at the end of the season. "Come on you Baaath!!!!!"

Leeds: Cardey, Albanese, Christophers, Snyman, Scarbrough, Ross, Stuart-Smith, Shelley, Regan, Kerr, Palmer, Hooper, Rigby, Hyde, Popham.
Replacements: Holt, Powell, Murphy, Salter, Dickens, Davies, Hodge.

Bath: Balshaw, Crockett, Tindall, Barkley, Danielli, Catt, Wood, Barnes, Humphreys, Bell, Borthwick, Grewcock, Beattie, Lipman, Fea'unati.
Replacements: Martens, Mears, Stevens, Human, Malone, Scaysbrook, Fidler.

Referee: Roy Maybank