Drink sangria in the park ...

By Andy Dowthwaite
February 5 2011

Welford Road on a Friday night, in an unpopular competition with many international players not available and which clashed with England vs Wales. Not very promising.   However, it is still Bath vs Leicester and both teams had named sides probably as strong as they could put out. This may have only been for pride but there is plenty of that on both sides and Leicester wouldn’t welcome a home loss to the Mighty Bath.

There were late changes to the starting line ups with Watson missing for Bath and Stankovich for Leicester, both key influential figures.  However this did give Guy Mercer a start after his recent injury. The game started in routine fashion with Bath’s Sam Vesty kicking off (took all the kicks in the game), this was gathered easily by Leicester and cleared to touch. From the resulting line out which was taken cleanly by Bath the ball was passed along the back line crisply but making little forward headway. This was, however, a mere distraction as back at the scene of the lineout, young Mr Grewcock was re-acquainting himself with his former colleague Rob Hawkins, in his own unique way. After some mutual bonding as they rolled around on the floor Rob appeared to aim a blow at poor Danny. As this was in front of the linesman the ref had no option but to produce a yellow card. A minute gone and Leicester down to 14 men, this could be our night.

Unfortunately we were able to make little impression during the 10 minutes of the sin bin and for the subsequent 10 minutes. Whilst looking solid in the scrum and then increasingly dominant, winning the lineouts and enjoying a majority of the possession and territory, we were unable to make much significant forward progress. Ball retention was good and passing accurate and quick, but Leicester seemed to anticipate any moves we made (passes back inside were met by a waiting Waldrom or Woods) and they had two men waiting for Ben Williams’s power running. It wasn’t that Ben was running into players but rather the gaps closed quickly like two gates snapping shut. This pressure in defence saw the ball turned over a couple of times with Waldrom usually involved – he has a great ability to make a tackle, stay on his feet, push the attacker to ground and then recover the ball. As a result Leicester began to push us back into our half and mount a number of threatening attacks.

It was at one of these attacks with, I think it was, Woods running at full pace into our backline that Ben William executed a great head on tackle which stopped Woods in his tracks and who lost the ball forward. Unfortunately this was at the expense of what looked like a shoulder injury. Ben may seem injury prone but frankly that was a huge tackle when it was needed against a big guy running at speed. The chance of injury in these circumstances must be high. He may now miss more games from the injury but I’m glad we have young players coming through who have steel and determination to make tackles like that, I hope it wasn’t that serious. Jacques came on as replacement with Matt Carraro moving to outside centre.

At this point we seemed to step up a gear and from the resulting scrum moved back into the Leicester 22. Good lineout ball again gave fast possession to Sam and Ollie with Jacques cutting back at pace toward the posts. That extra speed seemed to catch out the defence and they just managed to pull him down a couple of yards out. Good support from Taylor and Mercer allowed quick ball and we had a two man overlap. Good execution, Nick Scott took the pass well and was able to walk over for the try. No fuss - just quality simple play making the try looks easy.  Sam converted from near the touchline and we were ahead 7 – 0.

This seemed to spur Leicester into greater action, and, after recovering their own kick off, they were looking good in attack and quickly began to press forward. This was beaten off with some assistance from the ref who pulled up Leicester for offside. I have great difficulty in judging offside from behind the posts but the Leicester fans around me with better eyesight were incensed with this and other offside decisions. With Leicester now back in their own 22 Staunton spotted some space and chipped over our backs. I thought we were a little slow to respond and Matt Smith kicked forward before being tackled without the ball (by Sam I think). It didn’t matter as Amorosino, who can at least match Jacques for pace followed up to score. A great try from 90 yards. I think we were lucky here that he did score, the ref saw the tackle and looked to blow but allowed the advantage, which may well have saved a yellow card.

The game was really picking up pace at this point and was full of attacking intent from both sides. A Leicester clearance was caught by Jacques in the air and over the touchline and a reverse pass (to a Bath player) kept the ball in play. A classic piece of backs play with fast passing to fast running backs saw a final pass to Tom Biggs who, with 20 yards to go and two defenders to beat, never looked in doubt to score. Sam pulled the conversion wide but we were 12 – 5 up. This just stimulated Leicester into a higher pace. Recovering their own kick off again, a combination of forwards and backs put a lot of phases together and Slater was able to cross the line from short range with the inevitable gaps opening in the defence. This may be put down to defensive lapses but frankly to me it was because of multiple fast phases of possession from Leicester that created space. Staunton’s kick made it 12 – 12.

Even though there was only a few minutes left in the half, and after the stalemate of the first 20 minutes, the game was open enough that this looked like plenty of time for another score (from either side). Sam kicked the re-start straight into touch – this was eighteen inches from being a great kick off to their five yard line (and on a blustery night) but was enough to give Leicester the advantage. From the scrum they drove forward again pushed back into our half, however the ball was spilled and Bath kicked up field into space. With a couple of Bath players bursting forward Rob Hawkins impeded the players and looked to have put his arm out as part of the block. I was a long way away but it didn’t seem like a malicious swinging arm/elbow more of an action to slow down play.

The ref awarded the yellow which, as this was his second card, meant he was off for the whole of the second half. As it was in front of our bench they would have a decent view of this and there didn’t seem to be any real agitation from the subs or coaches. Yellow card, possibly but…..

The second half started like the first half with each side cancelling the other out. The main difference was that Leicester decided to kick more to test the back three in the windy conditions. Nick Scott looked completely at ease here and had no trouble making the catches look easy and then counter attacking. Jacques didn’t look as comfortable and needs to work on jumping and taking catches in the air (timing particularly). However the extra man and increasing dominance in the pack meant we spent increasingly more time in the Leicester half.

This dominance was broken by a good break from Dan Hipkiss who was involved at least three times in the move which saw Leicester take up residence on our five metre line. Good retention from the Leicester forwards was met by solid defence from the pack, all of who tackled well very close to the line in multiple phases. Another try looked inevitable but as the ball was passed to the backs they managed to knock the ball forward, however not before one of their players was pulled back without the ball. A penalty was given but we were probably lucky again with no yellow card. The reason may have that the player held back had already been missed in the passing move but we were still lucky.

Leicester went for touch but nothing came of the move, both sides were again cancelling each other out. Fresh legs were summoned with Ben Skirving replacing Beastie and Barnsey replacing Flats. Barnsey doesn’t look like he is close to retirement and continued the forward dominance, but Ben Skirving seemed to make a big difference continuing his good recent form.  Fresh legs and a fast paced game made him stand out in the last 20 minutes on what was becoming the Bath forwards game.

The backs contributed well. Mark McMillan was sharp again, gave one great pass to Olly, in our 22, who broke the line made good ground before feeding back inside to MMM to take play up to Leicester’s 22. Matt Carraro carried well but could possibly have passed outside to Tom Biggs who is looking dangerous and liable to score at any time. Overall though it was the forwards who closed the game out evidenced by the seeming disappearance of both Waldrom and Woods, both great players but who were overrun. The third try was a classic push over try. A couple of re-set scrums and a penalty, from which we chose to scrum, led to the push over score by Simon Taylor. Credit to the young Leicester props who stayed on their feet whilst going back but by this stage we were far too strong. Sam converted and it was 19  - 12.

Another yellow card for Leicester for Waldrom with 10 minutes to go, (no idea for what I’m afraid) meant we spent the remaining time in the Leicester 22. The pack rumbled over in the loose with Guy Mercer scoring the try. Loud shouts for a knock on but after the ref checked with the assistant the try was awarded. Sam converted and a bonus point was gained. 26 – 12 to Bath which after a number of substitutions that brought on the academy players was to be the final score.

I’m not going to nominate a man of the match as a lot of players had very good games. MMM was very sharp and threatening, Olly made a lot of breaks, Nick Scott was very assured at full back and Tom Biggs has a more predatory presence now and scored a good try. In the pack good games from Danny in the line out, Simon Taylor played well up against Waldrom as did Guy Mercer and the front row were very dominant.

We definitely had the rub of the reffing decisions and I would have some sympathy with Cockers if he wasn’t so one sided and, like the good Doctor, complaining bitterly only when they lose out. As a result he comes across as a whinger rather than being taken more seriously. I still think we were the better team with no lost line outs, clean ball, an increasingly dominant scrum and the backs making decent use of the ball. They had a strong back row which turned over possession and created good attacking options, Amororsino is lightening quick and as his contract isn’t being renewed shows there overall strength but this was in the end dominated by Bath and their one man advantage.

This was first visit to Welford Road when we have won (am about 1-9 now) and I could even drink with a couple of tigers in the bar after the game without choking for once, decent rugby fans who are a little more balanced than their coach followed by England Wales afterwards.  Oh what a perfect day.