Match Preview - Caution: Complacency Ahead

This weekend Bath face bottom dwellers London Irish in the fourth round of the Aviva Premiership. Although three matches into the season is far too early to be predicting table positions, it is clear that Irish will be desperate to post their first win of the campaign. Bath travel to the Madjeski Stadium hoping to record their second away win of the campaign.

Friday night’s loss to Northampton was a frustrating affair. Many would say that it was a game we could of won, whilst others would argue that our style was never going to win us the match, some could even question the decision making of the referee! All I know is that it’s the closest we’ve come in a while to matching a team like Northampton up front and feel that there are lots of positives to take moving forward. So far I see potential and we have another opportunity to add more points to our tally this weekend.

London Irish are an interesting side to analyse. Last season they won matches against the likes of Exeter, Gloucester and Northampton (at Franklins Gardens) as well as taking a draw at Welford Road against Leicester. At the same time they lost twice to us (let’s face it, we weren’t great last season!) and were beaten by then relegation candidates, Newcastle and Wasps.

Looking back I was surprised to find out that Bath have only once lost to London Irish in the last five seasons of the league. You actually have to go to the fateful 0-16 defeat in November 2009 (let’s not talk about that any longer!) for the last time they tasted victory over the Blue Black and White. In fact, Bath have not lost at the Madjeski since February 2007. We have also inflicted a couple of last ditch (and therefore painful) defeats on Irish in the last couple of seasons in particular, something I am sure has not been lost on them in the build up to this game.

Away fixtures are never easy in the Premiership, but Bath should be better equipped to take on the men from Reading than most teams this season, considering that our back room set up now consists of their previous Head Coaches, Toby Booth and Gary Gold, as well as their Academy Coach (and former player) Neal Hatley. If inside knowledge helps you to win games, we should have all the ammunition needed to unlock the door to victory.

The thing about tactics and statistics is that they often go out of the window when the actual game is played. It would be easy to assume that we are up against a side low on confidence and in a downward spiral, but these are commonly the most dangerous teams to face as they often battle harder as a result. We also have to remember that we are facing a team who have a plethora of talent with a strong set piece.

You only have to look at the names on their team sheet to realise that this is not going to be an easy ride. In the backs there is pace to burn from the likes of Ojo, Joseph and Tagicakibau, as well as the accurate boot of Tom Homer and the controlling influence and experience of Tomas O’Leary at scrum half. Up front there is a solid front row as well as the line out expertise of George Skivington and the breakdown nuisance that is Declan Danaher.

After Friday night we must surely consider that keeping the ball in hand more is a must this week. Irish have a back three that we do not want to kick badly to, as well as the fact that it’s very hard for any opposition to score points when they don’t have possession. I would simply like us to play a little more heads up rugby if possible. That said, and at risk of repeating myself, right now all I’m really concerned with is winning rugby, so I trust in Gary Gold to make the necessary tweaks required.

I expect few changes in the starting line up this week with it looking unlikely that those on the current injury list are going to be ready to play. Assuming that there have been no knocks in training or any residual injuries from last weeks game, I predict us to field pretty much the same team. Potentially some squad rotation may mean the promotion of Dave Attwood and Anthony Perenise, with Nathan Catt also in with a chance of winning his starting place back from Paul James.

Possible line up:

1. Catt. 2. Mears. 3. Perenise. 4. Hooper. 5. Attwood. 6. Taylor. 7. Fearns. 8. Skirving. 9. Claassens. 10. Barkley. 11. Biggs. 12. Williams 13. Hipkiss. 14. Eastmond. 15. Abendanon. Replacements: 16. Batty. 17. Wilson. 18. James. 19. Day. 20. Ovens. 21. McMillan. 22. Devoto. 23. Cuthbert

I genuinely feel that we are improving, and with the current form of London Irish, this is a game we really should be targeting as one of our away victories. It won’t be easy, but if we have top five aspirations, it’s a match that I think the coaching staff will expect to take four points from. We need to get on the front foot early and force their heads to drop. If we give too many penalties away then Homer will punish us and we’ll find ourselves chasing the game.

London Welsh last weekend proved that any team can beat another in this competition and this game is no different. As a result it’s imperative to realise that victory is attainable, but will be far from a walk in the park.