Premiership Review - Bath 45 - 0 Leicester Tigers

A note to any person who fancies writing a rugby blog.  Don’t.  A) I could do without the competition of better-informed people writing more accurate and comprehensive articles than me.  B)  Fitting it in around work inevitably means that your girlfriend remains unimpres....wait, where is she?  Oh.  She moved out.  And C) For all your tactical breakdowns and Mystic Meg-esque prophecies, your predictions will occasionally prove hopelessly wrong and will be brutally ridiculed.  The latter is especially pertinent given what happened at the Rec on Saturday when Bath hosted Leicester in one of the great traditional English fixtures.  A match I tagged as being a draw.

To be fair, I did alter my prediction approximately 3 minutes before kick off when I realised that Anthony Allen and Manu Tuilagi, an international-class centre pairing, had withdrawn during the warm up with niggles to be replaced by Owen Williams and Matt Smith, a fly half and a winger (Smith’s best position, in my view).  All of a sudden, Leicester had lost their way through a Bath defence that looked extremely generous against London Welsh the week before.  However, a comfortable defeat may have been on the cards; annihilation was not.

The warning signs for the bright orange Tigers were clear to see immediately.  With a last minute change out wide, there was simply no fluency or direction to the attack, with the Bath defence chopping and charging the men out wide down with merciless brutality.  More worrying though was the fact that the visitors immediately seemed to be on the back foot in the tight exchanges, where the pack – which hadn’t suffered any last minute setbacks – was also feeling the full force of the hosts’ enforcers, in the menacing form of Dave Attwood and Carl Fearns. 

Bath, on the other hand, were full of conviction when it was there turn to have the ball in hand.  Matt Banahan, starting for the first time this season, has been a thorn in the side of the Tigers for a while and he made big yards early on.  The pressure told after just 8 minutes, when quick hands from George Ford and Carl Fearns allowed Semesa Rokoduguni to crash over the line in the corner, with Ford adding a beautiful conversion from the touchline.

If there was crumb of comfort that my prediction-game could take from this game, it was that Leicester did indeed struggle in the scrum.  Although struggle is an understatement.  Now, Fraser Balmain is a talented young prop, who has done an admiral job as the Tigers’ 3^rd choice tighthead, but a grizzled veteran like Paul James he is not.  The Welsh international had him on toast throughout, and his ability to turn the screw at scrumtime meant that the hosts were consistently on the front foot, in possession, territory, and even defence – on the rare time the visitors managed to hang on to the ball on their own feed.

After 12 minutes, when Ford added a well-struck penalty, it became clear that the Tigers were going to be in for a long afternoon, and it proved to be so just 5 minutes later, as a smart pass from Kyle Eastmond put centre partner Jonathan Joseph into space on the outside of the defence, and the forgotten centre of English rugby scorched over for a fine score – once again, superbly converted by Ford.  The young fly-half was clearly in “one of those moods” as he buried a drop goal on the half hour mark, in stark contrast, in stark contrast to his fluffed attempts under pressure last season.  Another 3 points off the tee meant that the hosts could saunter down the tunnel with a 20 – 0 lead.  The Tigers, on the other hand, huddled in the middle of the pitch, determined to turn around a game where they were being unceremoniously humped (for want of a better phrase) in every facet of the game.

It didn’t work.  Sure, the Tigers may have had more of the possession and territory in the second half, but their attack was about as threatening as Mother Theresa with a pink feather duster.  Of course, huge credit needs to go to the Bath 8, with Fearns, Attwood, Leroy Houston and Stuart Hooper all playing monumental roles in the loose in swatting away their opposite numbers.  The hosts were quite happy to absorb the pressure, trusting in their defence and proving the doubters from the previous week to be very, very wrong, before launching some vicious and accurate counter attacks to kill the game off.

After Ford had added yet another 3 points, Eastmond went from provider to finisher as Joseph launched a scything counter attack from his own line to get Bath planted in the Tigers 22 – from where the miniscule centre wriggled over from 10 metres out for Bath’s 3^rd try.  The conversion was – disgracefully – missed by Ford. 

For the next 15 minutes, Leicester hammered away, but their lack of shape and inventiveness – and the speed of their ball – was in stark contrast to the wonderfully slick Bath.  Mathew Tait did come close to wriggling over and, if there was any positive to be taken from the game, the returning Tom Croft was a comfortably their best player, causing all sorts of problems in the wider channels, but everything seemed all too predictable.  And – predictably – it was Bath who would take full advantage.

First, a loose ball was hoofed upfield for substitute Olly Woodburn to chase, where – after exchanging passes with Houston in the manner of a cat toying with a mouse – the winger plunged over for a bonus point, and then the icing on the cake was added 7 minutes from time, with 65 year old Peter Stringer cantering over after another magnificent Bath counter attack, this time with Rokoduguni at its heart.  Two Ford conversions left the final score a staggering 45 – 0, although there was still time for a frustrated David Mele to see a red card from some over-zealous rucking...with the ball 5 metres away.

Now, I have been following rugby to a friendship-ruiningly obsessive level since I was 6.  I can never, ever recall the Tigers being nilled (I am told it has happened though...over a decade ago).  Sure, the visitors already have a nightmare injury list which is making last season’s problems seem like a pleasant bubble-bath, but that is no excuse for the utter lack of cohesion, accuracy and – above all – intensity, which saw them bullied in every corner of the park.  The issue, for me, has to rest with the coaching.  Questions will be asked.

Bath, however, were magnificent.  Ford was handed man of the match for a wonderfully composed and accurate display, but boy was he given an armchair ride.  For me, Fearns encapsulated why Bath won like they did – brutal, uncompromising and accurate.  All traits that Tigers fans usually like to cling on to.  But for the West Country outfit a huge warning bell has been rung; they look like serious contenders.

That said, the way this season is going, I wouldn’t bet on anything just yet.

And in the rest of the Premiership?

Gloucester 22 – 25 Exeter Chiefs:  The Cherry and Whites lost at home despite outscoring the Chiefs three tries to one, as indiscipline once again cost them.  Quickfire tries from Johnny May and Dan Murphy put the hosts in charge, but the visitors clawed their way back through the boot of Gareth Steenson and a Ben White try.  Even a second half Sione Kalamafoni try couldn’t rescue it for Gloucester.

Sale Sharks 46 – 8 London Welsh:  Well, the good news for Welsh is that they didn’t concede 50 this time.  The bad news? They took another pasting.  The Sharks coasted to victory with a Tom Arscott hat-trick and tries from Vadim Cobilas, Tom Brady and Luke McClean doing the trick, despite the Exiles responding through Nic Reynolds.

Harlequins  26 – 23 Wasps:  Like Leicester, Quins seem to have upset the injury gods already this year but had just enough to squeeze past a resurgent Wasps.  A Robshaw 5-pointer and a penalty try, plus the boot of Ben Botica, were enough to see-out Wasps, who crossed through Guy Thompson, Tom Varndell and Thomas Young.

London Irish 32 – 26 Saracens:  A last gasp Billy Vunipola try saw Sarries steal the points against a spirited Irish display in Reading, even though the hosts outscored the visitors 4 tries to 3.  A Blair Cowan try and an Alex Lewington hat-trick seemed to have earned the Exiles a famous win but Vunipola’s effort, preceded by scores from Tim Streather and Richard Wigglesworth ensured that wouldn’t be the case. 

Newcastle Falcons 10 – 35 Northampton Saints:  Saints ensured that they bounced back from their surprise defeat last week by claiming a bonus point win at still-winless Newcastle.  The Falcons scored their only try through Noah Cato but they were outmuscled predominantly in the first half, with tries coming for Saints from Will Hooley, Alex Waller, Ken Pisi and (leaving it late) George North.