Bath Rugby 19  London Irish 16 - Short Changed

Paddy Lennon reports from the Recreation Ground.

The Georgian city of Bath provided its usual, elegant backdrop to this Guinness Premiership match on Saturday.  The early Easter weekend meant that the weather could impact on the game and so it proved with the Recreation Ground experiencing four seasons in the course of the afternoon.

London Irish won the toss and decided to play into a strong, biting cold wind that blew across the pitch to start but later shifted and blew from north to south into the leisure centre end of the ground.  Happily, the sleet and snow that had provided a backdrop to the pre-match warm-up disappeared over Claverton Down with the result that the match was played in bright sunshine.

The recent history of matches between the two teams is one of tight contests with narrow winning margins with victory usually going to the side that took its chances and this latest contest was to prove no different.

With all the international players that had been on Six Nations duty back in action, the competitiveness of the opening exchanges came as no surprise.  The tackling was uncompromising and the physicality of the contest at the breakdown echoed into the stands.  Allied to these were the efforts of the kickers as Olly Barkley, Mike Catt and Eoghan Hickey tried to fine-tune their sights in the challenging conditions.

Given the strong and direction temperamental wind Irish tried to play with ball in hand in the opening quarter and there was much good handling to be enjoyed as Paul Hodgson, Eoghan Hickey and Mike Catt orchestrated a series of plays that threatened the home defence.  However, the Bath defensive line was well organised and determined with the result that the Exiles failed to break through.  All Irish had to show for their early enterprise was a Hickey penalty in the 12th minute. 

The early lead lasted only three minutes as Barkley levelled the score with his first penalty when Irish were caught offside.  The score was the trigger for the home team to step up their efforts and they went on to dominate the remainder of the half both in terms of territory and possession.

Making a rare start at full back Topsy Ojo’s defensive skills were in evidence when he made a try-saving tackle on the impressive Michael Lipman in the 18th minute.  That was followed by the unusual sight of two Exiles’ players, Tomas De Vedia and Paul Hodgson leaving the field with blood injuries at the same time. Their replacements, Gonzalo Tiesi and Warren Fury, barely had time to get a feel for the game when Bath launched an attack down their left.  A clever grubber kick through the Irish defence by Barkley was seized by Michael Stephenson who touched down in the left corner for the opening try of the game.  Barkley missed the conversion.

Irish clawed three points back through Hickey’s second penalty of the game in the 26th minute but the score only provided temporary relief as a powerful Bath pack supported by a lively back line in which Alex Crockett was outstanding constantly threatened.  Irish were penalised for handling in the ruck in the 33rd minute and Barkley made no mistake as he stretched his team’s lead to five points.  The final minutes of the half were notable for the fact that both teams lost a player to the sinbin in the space of three minutes.  Tomas De Vedia was first to go for a late tackle on the impressive Michael Claassens, Jonny Faamatuiano followed for throwing a punch at Mike Catt.  Barkley and Hickey kicked the resulting penalties to leave the score 19-9 at the interval.

With the strong wind on their backs Irish started the second half with a wave of attack that took play into the Bath 22.  Olly Barkley regained the ball and gestured to kick, instead he side-stepped a tackle and passed to Eli Fumiaono.  TheTonga slipped the ball to Michael Stephenson.  The Irish defence was breached and when Stephenson found Matt Banahan in the clear on the left there was only one outcome, a try in the left corner.  Although Barkley missed the conversion his team were now ten points clear.      

The home tried to up the pressure but encountered a resolute Exiles.  In the first half Mike Catt and Silala Mapusua had been forced onto the back foot now it was their turn.  Catt began to find his range with a series of testing kicks and Mapusua’s tackles knocked back attacking backs.  In addition, the balance of the Bob Casey/Nick Kennedy against Steve Borthwick/Danny Grewcock lineout contest began to tip in favour of the Irish pair with the result that Hodgson was able to bring his backs and front and back rows more into the game in an attacking role.

Hickey had two chances to reduce the Bath lead with kickable penalties in the 55th and 61st minutes but both drifted wide. Despite these setbacks the Exiles continued to attack inside the home team’s 22 but were unable to penetrate their defence.

Ross Broadfoot replaced Hickey in the 68th minute to make his senior debut for the Exiles.  The Cambridge fly half was soon in the heat of the action.  A crucial lineout steal by Casey in the 71st minute provided the catalyst for David Paice and Sailosi Tagicakibau to make inroads into the Bath22.  The Samoan offloaded to Broadfoot who was able to escape despairing tacklesof two Bath defenders before diving over for a try.  He added the extras to bring the score to 19-16 with eight minutes remaining.

Whatever impact the wind chill had on the spectators was soon forgotten as the excitement of events on the pitch took over.  It the quality of the play suffered there was no doubting the commitment of both teams.  Unquestionably, Irish had the upper hand and pressed for a match levelling or winning score.  To the home team’s credit their resistance was as determined as it was in the first half.  In the final minute after a multi-phase attack Irish stretched the home side’s cover on the left.  The ball was passed to Declan Danaher on the wing.  The strong flanker drove for the try line but was tackled into touch by Peter Short just as he was about to dive for the touchdown.  Referee Davey’s whistle sounded for full time with the final score at 19-16.

Scorers: Bath Rugby: Tries: Stephenson (22), Banahan (43). Penalty goals: Barkley 3 (15, 33, 38). London Irish: Try: Broadfoot (71); Conversion: Broadfoot. Penalty goals: Hickey 3 (12, 26, 40).

Scoring sequence (Bath first):  0-3, 3-3, 8-3, 8-6, 11-6, 14-6, 14-9 (half-time) 19-9, 19-16.

Bath Rugby: N Abendanon, M Stephenson (rep: T Cheeseman, 55), A Crockett, E Fuimaono (rep: S Berne, 66), M Banahan, M Claasens, D Flatman (rep: D Bell, 50), L Mears (rep: P Dixon, 74), M Stevens, S Borthwick (captain), D Grewcock, J Faamatuainu (sin-bin: 40-50)(rep: P Short, 64), M Lipman, D Browne (rep: C Goodman, 23).

London Irish: T Ojo, T De Vedia (rep: G Tiesi, 19-29)(sin-bin: 37-47), S Mapusua, M Catt (rep: G Tiesi, 76), S Tagicakibau, E Hickey (rep: R Broadfoot, 68), P Hodgson (rep: W Fury, 19-23), C Dermody, D Paice, F Rautenbach (rep: T Lea’aetoa, 61), N Kennedy, B Casey (captain), D Danaher, S Armitage, R Thorpe (rep: P Murphy, 61).

Referee: Mr Sean Davey (RFU)

Attendance: 10,600

Match Statistics

	19-16
T C P DG Player         David Flatman         Lee Mears         Matt Stevens         Steve Borthwick         Danny Grewcock         Jonny Fa'amatuainu         Michael Lipman         Daniel Browne         Michael Claassens     3   Olly Barkley 1       Matthew Banahan         Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu         Alex Crockett 1       Michael Stephenson         Nick Abendanon         Peter Dixon         Duncan Bell         Peter Short         Chris Goodman         Mike Baxter         Shaun Berne         Tom Cheeseman	Position 1. L/Prop 2. Hooker 3. T/Prop 4. Lock 5. Lock 6. B/Flanker 7. O/Flanker 8. No 8 9. Scrum-half 10. Fly-half 11. Wing 12. Centre 13. Centre 14. Wing 15. Fullback 16. Sub 17. Sub 18. Sub 19. Sub 20. Sub 21. Sub 22. Sub	Player T C P DG Clarke Dermody         David Paice         Faan Rautenbach         Nick Kennedy         Bob Casey         Declan Danaher         Steffon Armitage         Richard Thorpe         Paul Hodgson         Eoghan Hickey     3   Sailosi Tagicakibau         Mike Catt         Seilala Mapusua         Tomas De Vedia         Topsy Ojo         Tonga Lea'aetoa         Stuart Mackie         Gary Johnson         Phil Murphy         Gonzalo Tiesi         Warren Fury         Ross Broadfoot 1 1