Match Preview - Friday Night Fright

This Friday Bath take on relegation candidates Worcester in a quest to concrete their place in the top four. Bath have only won twice away from home in the Premiership in the last 20 months (one of which was our win last season against the Warriors) so this game is far from a foregone conclusion. The fact is however, that if we see ourselves as genuine play-off contenders, then an away victory against a winless side is surely a must, as well as an expectation. 

Bath are making a bit of a habit of making things hard for themselves at the moment, with a theme this season being their inability to really kill teams off and make their forward dominance count on the scoreboard. We very nearly let Leicester back in after being in complete control, came up short when it mattered at Sale, and totally dominated last Friday against Gloucester, yet it was still ‘squeaky bum time’ with five minutes to go! The key difference to me however, is that Bath are now seemingly winning the games that they had been throwing away at the last minute in previous seasons. We seem to have learned to win ugly, but against the top teams, we can’t give an inch.

I’m not really a big fan of a Friday night game. I think that they make for a lesser spectacle and didn’t suit our style in the past, but of late, poor weather seems to suit Bath, who did a fine job against Newcastle and Gloucester in adverse conditions. A win is a win to me, but I would love for some of that forward dominance to translate into tries for the backs.

If we’re honest, we should really be targeting a bonus point win this week, such is the poor form of Worcester, but in reality we probably need to be focussing on getting a run of away wins against those teams in the lower part of the table we would expect to beat. Worcester have had some close games in the competition this season, and are an intensely physical outfit. There is a ferocity and determination that comes from a team with their backs against the wall, so Bath should expect a highly physical and passionate confrontation at Sixways.

The Warriors have got a very powerful centre combination, and the always dangerous David Lemi on the wing. With the highly impressive Chris Pennell at full back, if they can win some quick front foot ball, Bath could find themselves having to do a lot of defending. Year after year in the Premiership (with this season no exception) there are surprise results, and in reality, a team can beat anybody, especially at home.

Besides challenging Worcester up front, Bath need to really attack their half backs. Jonny Arr made some mistakes against Exeter and Mieres has been disappointing in both defending and the boot so far from fly half. As a result he’s been dropped for Paul Warwick, but he’s played very little rugby this season (if any). Early in the game we need to throw the likes of Fearns (who was superb last Friday) Banahan and Rokoduguni down his channel to try and get behind the defence. If Louw gets in his face early on, he will be forced to stand further back and kick, which Anthony Watson (who totally deserves to keep his starting place) could really exploit.

With the Premiership about to take a two week hiatus, Bath sit third in the table, five points from the top. More crucially, there are only five points between them and Newcastle in ninth, so a slip up could easily mean a drop of 3-4 places in the table. It is of course early days in the competition, but I’m sure the psychological impact of being in the top four is considerable. Bath need to press early and intimidate Worcester. Regardless of team spirit, they have lost eight games in a row this season and not managed a win in the Premiership since 1^st March 2013.

Bath’s only absentees are Wilson and Attwood, and whilst both a loss, I’m please to see Will Spencer get a chance, he’s really impressed me so far and deserves a run. Perenise also gets the nod over Orlandi, which hopefully goes to show that the coaches are pleased with his progress in the tight. With the remainder of the team identical to the one that took on Gloucester last week Bath should not suffer from a lack of continuity and really need to turn the screw when they get the opprtunity.

I think if we can dictate the pace of the game on Friday we can really pressurise Worcester. Dean Ryan is a savvy operator though, and I expect them to put numbers into the breakdown and try to break up the flow of the game as much as possible. We should take this one, but any lack of respect or complacency, and Bath could be heading home with a belated Hallowe'en nightmare to sleep on.