Bath Stung By Wasps, Again!

By Glen Leat
October 16 2004

The Bath backs were a pale imitation of last week at Leicester and their team paid the price, by losing 16-19 to an under-strength Wasps. The mistakes and poor plays were numerous and despite what many Bath fans may say, Steve Lander was not to blame for this result even though he had a poor game.

Steve Lander may not be the most popular referee in English rugby and it has to be said some of his decisions are highly questionable, particularly around the offside laws, but this was a Wasps team there for the taking. They were so under strength that even their most ardent supporters must have doubted their ability to beat an almost full-strength Bath side on a roll after beating Glawster and drawing at Leicester. Lawrence Dallaglio also played his usual game of always being where the action is and helping the referee understand when and why he should be blowing his whistle. Fair play to the man, he pushes the laws to the boundaries and I'd challenge any supporter not to wish he was in their team!

However it wasn't Lander or Wasps who beat Bath today, it was Bath who lost this match through an inability to play the Wasps defence, so marvellously coached by (a personal hero of mine from his Rugby League days) Shaun Edwards, an inability to keep hold of the ball and most obviously Andrew Higgins for failing to fall on a dead cert of a try just before half-time. However I'm not going to single out Higgins as the guy who cost us this game (even though the stats will show he did because it's missed scoring opportunities that cost games), because we lost this match in the middle of the field, not in the end zone. 

Our pack dominated their opponents, even though Lander took a dislike to Michael Lipman early in the second half by twice penalising him in as many minutes.  The Bath line-out was good, though not great, and certainly not as dominating as in the previous two weeks but still should have provided the backs with a platform to build on last weeks great display. But they couldn't. Whether Wasps have the sort of hoo-doo on us that we used to have on so many other teams in our hey-day I'm not so sure, but it seems that as soon as we face up to the gold and black shirts our backs freeze. This almost seemed like a repeat of the Premiership Final back in May and I'm sure that most of the Bath players will be kicking themselves at another lost opportunity to beat Wasps.

This match saw Bath at their all too familiar worst, forwards setting up plenty of possession and the backs (from No 9 onwards) cocking it up. The Bath back-line looked like they could have eaten half a ton of baked beans before the game and struggled to pass wind let alone a ball, such was their woeful display. Some of the Bath backs' reckless long passes put team mates on the back foot when their balance should have been in a forward direction: at times one could be forgiven for thinking Mike Catt had made up with the Aussies and was once again wearing the blue, black and white.

Martyn Wood had a poor game, following two really good performances, and he was substituted after cocking up a great attacking position in the Wasps twenty-two. He was not pleased at being taken off and demonstrated his petulance by not indulging in the normal touching of hands (with Nick Walshe) as he left the pitch. Walshe looked very sharp throughout his time in this game and must stand a reasonable chance of ousting Wood for the next game against Bourgoin.

Bath started at quite a pace and after a minute it looked as though Wasps were going to struggle to keep up with a team gaining in confidence and form. But once again ex-Bath flyer, Tom Voyce, came back to haunt us as he intercepted a Lee Best wide pass, with three Bath men waiting to run in for a score, and ran 70 yards for a score against the run of play. Going seven points down after less than two minutes rocked the home side and despite having another 78 minutes to put things right, it wasn't until right at the end that they managed a five point score through replacement Chris Malone.

This was not the way the Bath coaching staff will have wanted to finish this stage of the League campaign and they will want to shake off this disappointment with a good win over Bourgoin in the Heineken Cup next week.

At least we got a bonus point from this defeat, which is a first for the season.

I've had a large gin and a glass of wine, I'm off for a few more now to drown my sorrows.

 

 

 

Bath: Best, Higgins, Fleck, Tindall, Daniel, Barkley, Wood, Barnes, Humphreys (c), Bell, Borthwick , Grewcock, Beattie, Lipman, Feaunati
Replacements: Walshe, Mears, Stevens, Malone, Davey, Scaysbrook, Fidler

Wasps: Van Gisbergen; Thrower, Richards, Erinle, Voyce; Brooks, Biljon; Payne, Greening, Green, Hart, Birkett, Worsley, O'Connor, Dallaglio (c)
Replacements: Leota, Nwume, Lock, Haskell, King, McKenzie, Hoadley

Referee: Steve Lander