Aviva Premiership Big Match Review - Bath 31 - 25 Gloucester

I recently visited the beautiful city of Bath for the first time on a weekend excursion with my other half.  It's a simply stunning old city that's filled with tradition, from the famous Bath spas, to the ancient Sally Lunn's Bun shop (established in 1680), to the fantastic hidden pubs and customary well-natured verbal abuse you'll be sure to receive if you're thick enough to wear a certain rival's home shirt around the city, as I was.  Another tradition of Bath though is its rugby team's ability to throw up some gorgeously sumptuous rugby from time to time – and Friday night was one of those nights when that particular tradition was honoured.

Of course, it's no use just having one team intent on playing rugby if the other team is just there to stifle, but Gloucester were far from being 'that side'.  They may be fierce rivals but here they stood toe to toe with old adversaries in a very positive sense, running the ball with pace and width in the backs, complimented by hard, direct carries in the forwards.  It was a great game to watch and it was a million miles away from the mud-caked brawls that we may have expected in the 1980s, but it certainly lacked no intensity despite the absence of an all-out fist fight.  Bath were more clinical in dangerous areas than their opponents and it was this, combined with a contentious sending off decision, which ultimately dictated the outcome of the game.

The game was red-hot from the off as, following an early penalty goal from young fly-half Tom Heathcote,  giant centre Matt Banahan performed something resembling a sidestep (a change of direction) and burst through the Gloucester line in a superb break that took him up to halfway.  With Rob Cook in front of him and cover coming across, the ex-England man put through a surprisingly well-placed kick for Tom Biggs to chase, who was being hunted down by the notoriously rapid Charlie Sharples.  Now, a while ago I listed the quickest blokes in the Premiership, but I think we need to add Biggs to that list.  Imagine how quick he'd be if he didn't share Bon Jovi's hairdresser (Clive Woodward says excess hair slows you down).  He burnt Sharples for pace, hacked ahead and was about to gather and score when he was taken out early by the Cherry and Whites flyer.  The video ref was asked to intervene and confirmed a try would have been scored – end result: penalty try for Bath, yellow card for Sharples.  I think the penalty try was fair but the incident does raise an interesting question – when does the player come into 'possession' of the ball?  Sharples grabbed Biggs as the ball touched the Bath man's hip – does that mean Biggs had possession and thus it was a fair tackle? 

Anyway, Gloucester didn't faff about with getting back into the match.  Although the returning Freddie Burns had left his kicking boots at home, he was showing some lovely footwork to make plenty of half breaks, and Gloucester were getting some pretty decent front foot ball.  But it was from Bath possession that they grabbed their first try, with the bizarrely auburn Nick Abendanon seeing his kick charged down by Henry Trinder, who scooped up the ball and scampered into the corner.  Ten minutes later, it was Jonny May's turn to go over on the opposite side of the pitch – five minutes after he'd had a try ruled out for a forward pass – with Trinder acting as the provider this time after Banahan was drawn in by Burns.

Burns' superb conversion – his only successful kick of the night – saw the visitors go 2 points clear, but it lasted barely 2 minutes as Heathcote knocked over another penalty before slicing through the Gloucester defence from 60 metres out, drawing Cook and passing to the electric Kyle Eastmond, who stepped inside Sharples and scuttled over underneath the posts.  It was another fine try on what was quickly becoming a fine game and, with Heathcote's conversion, Bath found themselves 8 points in front before Cook, assuming Gloucester's kicking duties, pulled back another 3 points just before the end of the half.  Cook is still performing his bizarre wide-legged kicking ritual by the way (riding a fat horse is a new description I've heard) which, to be honest, takes some guts in front of the 'friendly' home crowd at the Rec.
 

Heathcote and Cook exchanged penalties after the break in what seemed like a fairly innocuous opening 10 minutes, after the mayhem of the first 40, but then came a critical moment of the match.  Dave Attwood carried the ball into contact and was lifted by hooker Darren Dawidiuk, who seemed to tip the big lock slightly so he landed on his shoulder.  It didn't look that dangerous but it was enough convince Tim Wigglesworth to dish out a red card, putting Gloucester down to 14 men for the remainder of the half.  The visitors were now up against it and, after conceding another 3 points to the accurate boot of Heathcote, conceded another try when Tom Biggs stepped inside to finish superbly following quick hands from Heathcote, Eastmond and Abendanon.

Contest over?  Not by a long shot.  Gloucester clawed themselves back into the game and the pressure forced flanker Carl Fearns to book himself a trip to the sin bin and whilst he was off, Mike Tindall rumbled through the line before the ball was worked out wide to Jonny May, who grabbed his second score of the night.  It was a surprise when the last 15 minutes went by without further drama as both sides ran themselves into the ground.  Neither side will be disappointed with the result – Bath will be delighted with the win over their rivals whilst the Cherry and Whites will be happy to grab a losing bonus point after being down to 14 men for half an hour – and every spectator would have been pretty pleased with the display of running rugby on show on Friday night in one of the English game's oldest rivalries.

6 great tries, plenty of drama…Long Live Tradition.

Aside from this cracker of a game, the Premiership threw up a few other decent spectacles as well:

Worcester 29 – 23 Wasps:  Worcester stopped their rot and the seemingly relentless march of Wasps with an impressive bonus-point home win.  Chris Pennell, David Lemi, Blair Cowan and Johnny Arr all went over for the hosts, whilst the visitors grabbed a losing bonus point after scores from Rhys Thomas, Ashley Johnson and youngster Jack Wallace.

Leicester Tigers 48 – 10 Sale Sharks:  A Tom Croft-inspired Tigers side blew the woeful Sharks out of the water with a convincing win at Welford Road.  The home side claimed scores through Ed Slater (2), a penalty try, Matt Smith (2) and Mathew Tait, before the visitors snuck a consolation try through Andy Powell at the death.

Northampton Saints 40 – 14 London Irish: Saints got themselves back into the playoff spots with a thrashing of struggling London Irish at Franklin's Gardens.  The Midlanders grabbed six tries through hat-trick hero Jamie Elliot, Samu Manoa, Soane Tonga'uiha and GJ van Velze, whilst Irish could only manage a late score through young loanee Guy Armitage.

Harlequins 16 – 27 Exeter Chiefs: Chiefs stunned table-topping Quins with a shock, but convincing, win at The Stoop on Saturday.  The home side led through an early score from Ugo Monye, but a Gareth Steenson-inspired Exeter side added tries through Damian Welch and Luke Arscott to take home a famous victory.

Saracens 35 – 14 London Welsh:  Saracens moved to the top of the table after a thumping win over struggling London Welsh.  The visitors scored the first try through Seb Stegmann but a penalty try and scores from Joel Tomkins, Will Fraser and David Strettle sealed a bonus point victory for Sarries.