Tuesday 6 January 2015

Premiership Review - Leicester Tigers 18 - 10 Bath


Reading the press in the build up to this game, there were two subjects which were done to death by pundits from all sides – Sam Burgess, and revenge.  Sam Burgess was under the spotlight because it was the former rugby league star’s first start in a Bath shirt, taking the number 13 jersey surprisingly, and revenge because well, of ‘black Saturday’ (as the Leicester fans may recall it), where Bath inflicted a 45-0 drubbing, Tigers’ record defeat, at the Rec 3 months ago.  Revenge, according to skipper Ben Youngs, was certainly not on the minds of the players prior to this game, but Sam Burgess was – the new man was expected to be targeted and his positional awareness tested.  This transpired to be mostly baloney as the Tigers pack focused all their efforts on dominating their counterparts, with the backs largely spectators...and there seemed to be more than a sprinkling of anger in this display.  Admit it or not, for the Leicester players and the Welford Road crowd, this was about revenge.
 
It was Bath, though, who had the early possession, with Kyle Eastmond looking to dart into holes and Carl Fearns carrying hard – but they came up against a Leicester defence far more aggressive and organised than that which wilted before them at the Rec three months ago.  However, they did take the lead from a George Ford penalty following a harsh call against Jordan Crane, who was adjudged to have gone off his feet in the ruck despite it looking like he’d pinched the ball.  Bath, though, were soon on the receiving end of a suspect whistle themselves as Matt Garvey was unlucky to be penalised for not releasing Niki Goneva as Leicester looked to threaten the wide channels.  These two decisions rather summed up Matt Carley’s day really – plenty of mistakes, but they tended to be evenly distributed...I’m not sure if that makes for a good referee, but at least he was (mostly) fair.  Regardless, after Owen Williams had smashed the post with his long range attempt, Adam Thompstone chased well and forced the Bath pack to go off their feet, giving Williams a much easier three points.
 
Those points were the start of a period of Tigers’ dominance which saw Bath suffer two significant blows over the next 10 minutes.  The first was the worrying sight – for all England fans – of Kyle Eastmond hobbling off with a leg injury, but it was the second which really summed up the way this game was heading.  Bath were struggling to get out of their half, with Ben Youngs kicking intelligently and George Ford being put under all sorts of pressure from the likes of Jamie Gibson and Graham Kitchener.  Bath were being forced into conceding penalties, and Leicester smelt blood.  From a 10 metre line-out the Tigers pack surged forward, with Tom Youngs emerging with the ball following a classic Leicester drive.  Williams couldn’t add the extras, but already this was feeling like a very different day to that infamous afternoon at the Rec three months ago. 
 
The Tigers, by this point, were ferocious in attack.  The scrum, which had been marched around with such contempt in the first fixture of the year, was on top for the hosts, thanks largely to the return of Marcus Ayerza but also due to young Fraser Balmain – in for Dan Cole – exorcising his demons, forcing Paul James (the man who had given him such a torrid time previously) into conceding multiple penalties for driving in at an angle.  It’s a trait that is often pointed out by opposition coaches, and it got to James as he tended to be at the centre of countless shoving matches as tempered flared between the sides, without anything really interesting to report.  Austin Healey made to the good point on telly that the pack should just be allowed to have a scrap to get it out of their system, but regardless of that Bath’s indiscipline was costing them, with Williams knocking over another 3 points following another infringement.
 
Leicester continued to hammer away, through their pack mostly, and laid siege to the visitors’ line for the best part of 10 minutes – but the men in white, to their credit, gave a superb showing of goal-line defence, with Dave Attwood, Garvey and Francois Louw all weighing in with try saving hits.  The Tigers should have been out of sight as half time approached, but the resolve of the Bath defence kept the gap to just 8 points.
 
With half-time quickly approaching, Bath finally got some possession and territory to finish the first 40 minutes on top, with Anthony Watson look particularly dangerous, and they thought they’d picked up a try against the run of play as Sam Burgess (a spectator until this point), crashed onto an Ollie Devoto pass to bulldoze his way to the line...only for Carley to call play back for a forward pass.  Replays showed it was marginal at best – certainly nothing ‘clear and obvious’ as the referees like to say – and Bath fans were rightly a bit peeved, but Carley at least missed two horrendously blatant forward passes from the visitors later on, so at least it evened itself out again.  Sort of.  Leicester went into the break with an 11 – 3 lead, knowing that whilst they should have been further ahead, they could quite easily have been behind if it hadn’t been for that lucky break.
 
 Williams added another three points to that total early in the second half, but Bath came out with renewed vigour and began to get the ball more frequently, attempting to play with the pace that has made them such a joy to watch this season.  Watson continued to look classy and Burgess was also beginning to get his hands on the ball and, encouragingly, make some decent yards in the midfield – but overall they were out-muscled and out-thought by a Tigers defence who simply refused to open the gate.  With Tom Youngs and Julian Salvi everywhere, any Bath player who was slightly isolated was brutally targeted in the breakdown, disrupting the flow of the visitors attack.  The sucker punch came as it was Leicester, not Bath, who scored the next points on the 60 minute mark, with Williams hitting another penalty.
 
The rest of the game was relatively even and fractious, with continuous scuffles spoiling the rhythm of the game and, although Bath continued to press, they failed to find a way through before the 79th minute, when substitute hooker Ross Batty plunged over after a lineout drive.  Ford had the chance to add the extras and secure a bonus point for his side’s troubles, but he horribly shanked the fairly straightforward conversion wide (as he had done with a similar penalty opportunity at the end of the first half), and Bath were forced to return the West Country empty handed – to the delight of the Welford Road faithful.
 
No, this was not as comprehensive a victory as the previous fixture between these two was, but revenge is revenge, and Leicester were comfortably the better side and deserving, despite Mike Ford’s rather naive insistence that his side played the ‘better rugby’.  Define ‘better rugby’, Mike – Leicester were more aggressive, more physical and were smarter across the park.  Flinging the ball wide without any incision is admirable but does not constitute ‘better rugby’ in my book.
 
What is clear though is that, although Bath have taken huge strides this season and will surely be in the mix this time around, they still have a little way to go before they become one of the true dominant forces in England.  It’s also clear that Leicester, despite missing 11 internationals through injury and still failing to play with any real inspiration, are still somehow poised for yet another playoff run themselves.  The side may not, currently, be a vintage one – but the attitude certainly is. 

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