Bath Win Tight Opener At The Rec

By Nicola Curtis
August 29 2009

In their first game at the Rec this season, Bath weathered thunder and lightning from the sky and from the opposition as they held on to a slender two point lead to beat the Llanelli Scarlets 5-3.

The heavens opened as the two sides ran onto the pitch, hampering the opening skirmishes. The ball was slippery and both sides kept knocking on in promising situations. Llanelli dominated the opening moves but Bath quickly tried to take control. But an attack from Tom Cheeseman went wrong when his chip went straight into a Scarlet hand, setting up more attacking opportunities for the side from Wales . For a “friendly”, it was an extremely competitive match with some impressive rugby from both sides.

It was only the conditions which prevented either side from scoring for so long, and over 20 minutes had been played before the scoreboard ticked over to show a lead for the Scarlets of three points, after they were awarded a penalty when Bath failed to roll away. As Daniel Evans ran back after kicking the ball between the sticks, thunder rolled around the Rec, adding to the slightly surreal atmosphere for a crowd who had been without rugby at the Rec for a few months and were now sitting in the middle of a storm in August.

The game was pretty feisty, and an elbow to the chest of a Bath player lead to a kick to the 22 by Ryan Davis, who impressed me with his intelligent kicking and quick feet. Bath pounded the 5m line but the greasy ball let them down and it was gathered by the Scarlets. It did them no good as a high tackle on newbie Matt Carraro meant a repeat of Davis ’s kick. This time, Bath were rewarded, and a rolling maul moved the Bath pack closer to the centre of the pitch, and in a flash Nick Abendanon skipped around the Llanelli defence and used the overlap to whisk the ball right to Joe Maddock. Ever dependable, Maddock ran over the line to score a try. Davis missed the conversion.

As the rain began to dry up, Carraro continued to show what Steve Meehan saw in him, and nipped up the wing, breaking through the Scarlet's defence. He has elements of the power we see from Matt Banahan and the quick feet and thinking of Abendanon. I officially like him a lot! The break was stopped by the opposition’s impressive defence, and an attempted drop goal from Davis was thwarted. The slippery ball continued to fox both teams leading up to the interval, and a potential try for the home side was stopped as a slippery ball slid out of Bath hands.

Bath started the second half well, attacking with enthusiasm. There was a long injury pause as Julian Salvi stayed down for a while, before trotting back to the first of many scrums in the second half. It was an odd second half, full of set pieces but not much was achieved by either side. We saw an influx of substitutes as both sides used the opportunity to test out their player’s fitness. Matt Banahan had a great crack at smashing through the Welsh defences and looked as bullish as ever. He tested his legs as he was forced to chase down a hack from the Scarlets, and sprinted down the pitch to prevent a try.

The Scarlets were awarded another penalty (let’s hope this doesn’t become a trend in the same way it did last season) but the crowd on the terraces cheered as it went wide. They cheered again a few moments later as Abendanon showed just what a great player he can be as he caught a tricky high ball and twisted his way through five or six Scarlets bodies and broke free of their defence. Not enough support meant he was forced to chip the ball on, and it went too far. No try, but wonderful from Bendy.

Bath thought they had scored a try a few moments later but the ref called the player back just as he ran under the sticks, and the second half remained point free. It may have only been a friendly but my heart was in my mouth as the referee awarded a penalty to the Scarlets in what turned out to be the last minute of play. The kicker looked nailed on to score the three points and win the game, but the cheers from the terraces told the rest of us he had missed again. The whistle blew, and the score was 5-3.

A low scoring match perhaps, but an enjoyable one. Llanelli looked good, and tested the Bath defence. It was a pleasure to be back at the Rec watching rugby rather than reading about Bath ’s affairs in the newspapers. Matt Carraro really impressed, and players such as Michael Claassens and Joe Maddock were their usual skilful selves.