Premiership Review - Bath 27 - 20 Leicester Tigers

A new era has been proclaimed at Bath.  Well, it has been for the last couple of years.  Substantial investment in the club has led to the assembly of top quality coaching staff and the arrival of a plethora of young talent and established names.  But one thing doesn’t change – that feeling fans in the West Country get when the Tigers come to town.  And that’s always echoed by the men who wear those famous blue shirts.

An opening win away in Newcastle continued to feed the burgeoning optimism around the club, and with good reason too.  Aside from the electrifying Kyle Eastmond and the inspirational Francois Louw – out with a minor injury and on international duty respectively – the hosts were looking to pretty good nick, with talent dotted all over the park and justifying why there is hope that a top-6 finish may not just be on the cards, but a playoff spot as well.  Leicester, on the other hand, despite being champions, limped rather than charged into this encounter following an average display against Worcester and an injury list that reads like a who’s who of English rugby, with key men Geoff Parling, Tom Croft, Ben Youngs, Toby Flood and Manu Tuilagi all with notes from their doctor.

Despite this, it was the Tigers who started the brighter, with Jordan Crane, Ed Slater and Steve Mafi all carrying well to force the penalty and give David Mele the chance to slot 3 points, after regular kicker Ryan Lamb displayed all the accuracy of blindfolded mole in the warm up.  The Frenchman, who would have a difficult day with the boot, succeeded, but this proved to be the high point of the Champions’ first half as they fell victim firstly to the boot of ex-employee George Ford, and then to the fleet-footed awareness of England centre Jonathan Joseph, as he plucked a ludicrously ambitious Lamb pass out of the air and strolled in from 70 metres for the opening try.  Bath found themselves up by 7 points, and Leicester found themselves up against a side in form – with the back three of Matt Banahan, Anthony Watson and Semesa Rokaduguni looking particularly lively – and a referee in a bad mood.

David Mele hadn’t done much to impress Greg Gardner by constantly skewing his feed into the scrum and then whinging about it, but Logovi’i ‘Mini’ Mulipola didn’t particularly ingratiate himself either, earning himself a trip to the bin for a shoulder-charge tackle on Dave Attwood, who had looked useful in the opening exchanges.  Any concerns on referee-relationships for the visitors were soon confirmed when Mele was penalised for pushing Peter Stringer at the scrum – staggering, considering I can’t recall a scrum where the nines haven’t been shoving like sissies.  Nevertheless, Ford continued his great day with the boot, before the Tigers briefly found themselves down to 13 men, with Tom Youngs penalised for bringing down a maul when the Bath eight were looking to rumble within sight of the line.  This was a harsh call in my view as, firstly, Youngs driven downwards by a combination of a Leicester and Bath player moving in the maul and, secondly, he’s the size of a hobbit, which means he can’t help but occasionally take out the odd leg.  Again Ford was the man to punish his old side, with his boot looking twice as accurate as it did at any time last season.

Leicester now found themselves 16 points to 3 down, and were struggling to create any inroads against a resilient Bath defence, with Guy Mercer and Leroy Houston particularly impressing.  It all led to an aimless kick from Lamb, who had struggled in the first half, being gathered by Rokoduguni 70 metres out, and the big winger skipped a couple of tackles before shipping the ball to Banahan via Gavin ‘Tango’ Henson.  Banahan, who was looking so much more comfortable on the wing than in the centres, then produced the sort of finish that had England selectors purring a couple of years ago, outstripping the covering Slater before stepping inside Scott Hamilton and powering over the line with Niall Morris clinging on for dear life.  Ford’s boot finally failed with the touchline conversion, but at 21-3 it was game over, surely?

Apparently not, as the Champions proved their pedigree and strength in depth by surging out with intent in the second half.  Back to a full compliment, Youngs and Mulipola looked to make amends, with England hooker going on a couple a gigantic rumbles up the middle of the park.  The early pressure was telling and Lamb, in a similar position from which he gave away his intercept, pulled off a gorgeous cross-field kick for Thompstone to gather and offload brilliantly to Mafi, who lumbered over.  Mele missed the conversion, but the warning shot had been fired.

Five minutes later and it had gone from warning to danger for Bath, as Scott Hamilton and Niall Morris combined superbly to send the winger tearing through upfield, only for the winger’s hamstring to strain at the wrong moment.  Luckily for the visitors though, Niki Goneva was also producing some magic of his own.  Out of position in the centre, the Fijian produced a sparkling run to set up good field position and, after Dan Cole and Mafi had carried well, Ed Slater continued his strong showing by finishing well in the corner.  This time Mele found his mark with the conversion, and the Tigers were within 6 with 20 minutes to go. 

Bath were now looking rattled – their defence all over the place and their attack lacking direction and intensity.  Luckily Leicester’s discipline, which had improved in the second period, let them down again, and Ford struck a fine penalty to extend the lead and calm the Rec’s nerves.  But not for long.  Goneva was now looking by far and away the most dangerous player on the park and it was only fitting that he got to finish off a fine move that involved sweet handling from Youngs and Thompstone, with the latter providing another great offload as an assist.  Mele was again off target, but the champions were now within 4 points with 13 minutes to play – as has been the case with so many of these games in the past, was it to come right down to the wire?

Actually, no.  Leicester, no doubt exhausted from 30 minutes of superb rugby, couldn’t maintain their intensity against a Bath side who showed a maturity that wasn’t present last year.  The Bath pack started protecting the ball, Ford started pinging the corners with wonderful accuracy and, following another 3 pointer, Leicester could find no way out.  The final whistle went, and the Rec could celebrate a well-deserved 27-20 win against their rivals of 100 years.

In truth, Bath will be disappointed with their second half display, following an intelligent and clinical first period, whilst the Tigers will not be too disheartened, given the quality of rugby they produced in the last 40 minutes and the length of their injury list.  But if 100 years of Bath-Leicester matches has taught fans of both sides one thing – if you get offered any sort of victory over your rivals, no matter what the circumstances, you take it.

 

What else occurred this weekend in the Aviva Premiership?

Harlequins 6 – 13 Northampton Saints:  Saints continued their impressive start to the campaign by overcoming Harlequins in monsoon-like conditions at the Stoop, with centre James Wilson scoring the games only try.

Sale Sharks 14 – 15 Newcastle Falcons:  Dean Richards’ men got off the mark with a resilient win against the Sharks in Salford, despite conceding the only try of the game to flanker Dan Braid.  Phil Godman and Rory Clegg both had success off the tee to claim the match in the new-boys’ favour.

Exeter Chiefs 30 – 28 London Wasps:  The Chiefs survived a late fightback to condemn Wasps to the second narrow defeat in the space of a week.  Tom James, with 2 cracking tries, and James Scaysbrook touched down for the hosts, with the visitors responding through Christian Wade and Ashley Johnson.

Worcester Warriors 18 – 20 London Irish:  Irish won a potentially crucial battle against the Warriors, thanks in the main to two stunning scores from England hopeful Marland Yarde.  David Lemi and Ignacio Mieres managed to cross for the hosts.

Saracens 44 – 12 Gloucester:  Saracens romped to a comfortable win, thanks in large part to Gloucester prop Nick Wood, who got himself red carded after 90 seconds for cleaning his boot on Jacques Burger’s head.  Sarries helped themselves to 5 tries, with Joel Tomkins, Dave Strettle (2), Schalk Brits and Billy Vunipola all crossing the whitewash.