Before the match, some of the Bath supporters said that they had felt a bit lucky to win last week 20-21. Well, if they were lucky last week, they were really lucky this week. The truth is that both matches could have gone either way. Last week I would have felt slightly guilty had we won. This week I feel slightly cheated, having lost. This is to deny Bath nothing. They scored more than we did, but oh, it could have been different.

The result, 23-21 to Bath, may give an inkling of this pulsating match in which the gladiators gave their all, the crowd bayed for more, and Pearsonius Caesar showed remarkable clemency, having spoken to Kieron Dawson, Dec Danaher and Ryan Strudwick any number of times. Since he followed most of these talks with a penalty to Bath I imagine he was not asking for the address of their barber.

The Rec was introduced to two new London Irish tactics. The first was the London Irish rolling maul. It is a thing of beauty, something to be cherished. However, rolling mauls are not just for Christmas (or Lent) and if we practice it and give it a regular airing it will probably serve us well for years. Without even looking at him I could see Cornishman JoeV nodding his head in appreciation each time we tried it on.

Our second new tactic was frequent use of the Garryowen, what Eddie Waring used to call the ‘oop and under’. Time and again we hoofed the ball high, high into the sky and the green and blue hordes closed in on the spot marked out for its arrival back on earth – with somewhat mixed results. Rather too frequently we knocked on or otherwise spilled possession, and Bath quite soon copied us, presumably on the basis that we wouldn’t like it up us either. We didn’t, and the Garryowen game ended with Bath ahead.

We may not have slaughtered the Bath rolling maul, but at the least we neutered it. Our line out may not have been a thing of beauty, but it was steadier than a week earlier, and half way through the first half we nicked one off Bath.

The game was one of those infuriating affairs where your guys do so much well, and then undo it – and it only takes one person at a time to do so. No, the error count may not have been as bad as on other days, but when we made an error, boy did it count. We are also becoming prone to giving away a lot of penalties. Basics again, but far better than a week earlier.

Two minutes after the start Mordt scored from a Horak one man quick line-out. I think it may have been his first try for the club. Barry converted. 0-7. It was not looking as easy as it sounds. Bath rumbled up the park a number of times, being repulsed by stout tackling and Barry’s boot. Then a Garryowen was fumbled by several LI players in a bunch, and fly-hacked forwards by Bath. Sackey carried back over the line, and a LI penalty at the resulting five metre scrum saved the day.

Inevitably at this early stage there was a lot of aerial ping pong going on, with honours roughly even. Murphy and Danaher were putting in some fine attacking work, and the name Horak crops up in every line of my notes. Dead on 20 minutes however, Bath spoilt our dreams by sending a miss pass to the right, on half way. A speculative kick ahead from the wing bounced awkwardly for Horak in-goal, and Crockett, the Bath wing, dotted down. Malone’s kick hit the right upright. 5-7.

A minute or so later Everitt decided to have a go at a penalty from half way. Dead on-line, the kick fell short. Bath now decided to try the Garryowen themselves, and for several phases they could not think beyond this. An Edwards’ box kick proved a most inept imitation; Bath grabbed it and swept up the left, where Mafeking was relieved by our own Barry, again. Greenstock took a bomb safely. Bish fumbled one. Bath are spending a lot of time in our half.

30 minutes into the half Beefy Hatley went down, and was not quite the same afterwards. We couldn’t tell what the trouble was, though. Two minutes later Mears came on for Humphreys, the Welsh international hooker and Bath skipper. I’m sure there was no connection! Then Chris Malone the Bath 10 converted an easy penalty from inside the LI 10 metre line. 8-7 to Bath. Four minutes later, following his first failed drop goal attempt,  Everitt replied in kind from a similar position. 8-10. There followed ten minutes or so of aggressive LI defence, long Bath kicks to corners and some turnovers in favour of LI. It looked a bit niggly, and the home crowd shouted “off, off, off.” Caesar spoke to Ryan at length, and gave Malone another easy pop at goal. 11-10, and with 45 minutes on the clock it’s half time.

During the break I became concerned for a second when I spotted the extremely close proximity of burger van, Guinness outlet and mobile gents toilet just behind the Virgin mobile stand where many LI supporters found themselves. I trust the flow of product was indeed in the correct direction.

The restart restored the cut and thrust, the script being largely unaltered from the first. Some drives from them, some drives from us. A penalty to them……. to our amusement it hit the corner flag and rolled out of play. From the restart scrum on the centre spot Murphy picked and drove, and was rewarded with a penalty between the Bath 22 and 10 metre lines. Barry obliged. 11-13, and Doug Wheatley replaced Hatley at Loose Head. In between several short-lived rolling mauls, rigorously made stationary by Irish, the Bath 12 was looking sharp, while Wylie Human their left wing was dropping or missing everything in sight. Even the errors weren’t one way!

Awesome gets a lecture, and Bath a penalty. 14-13. Matt Stevens comes on for Bell. Then we get a penalty in our own half and Rob Hardwick goes down. Who is on the bench? Paice, the Academy hooker. Rob stays on. Bath get a penalty in their own half, kick long and right, and, oh dear, oh dear, it’s a drop goal by Malone. 17-13.

The exiles now started to indulge themselves in attack, and Bath had to work harder than ever. Play swung left to right and right to left, then it’s a turnover. Repeat the recipe several times. Human fumbled the ball into touch when well away towards the line. This really is exciting thud and blunder! Sheasby replaces an exhausted Murphy 25 minutes in. We go offside in front of the posts and Malone converts. 20-13. Bath’s Flatman is replaced by David Barnes, Edwards by Barrett and Casey by Kennedy. We are attacking again and win a penalty in front. Thanks, Barry. 20-16 and we are playing with sufficient enthusiasm, ball in hand, to suggest we can pull it off.

Scaysbrook comes on for Lipman in the Bath back row. Strudwick and Danaher presumably take fright at this, for they retire to the right wing, where their handling fails to threaten Sackey’s career. Having gone back to their rightful duties in the dark of the mauls, we manage to get the ball along the line to Sacks on his wing and he hares away, out of sight behind the crowd. Try! It is theoretical full time too. Barry pushes the kick wide, but it’s 20-21. How long do we have, O mighty Caesar?

Bath kick off. Kennedy seems to call for the catch but it eludes him and the smallest man on the park takes it instead. Turnover. Malone is in the pocket. He drops for goal and we know it is good long before Mr Pearson raises his arm. 23-21. Time runs out. Oh ………… bother! How frustrating. If only………

Yes, we had taken on Bath at their own game, and although we came second on the scoreboard, there was little to choose between the teams on the park, especially up front where the Bath steamroller met ours. We did the spadework, made the ground, but somehow failed to turn possession into appropriate points. Bath did.

So, glass half full, or glass half empty?

It’s half empty if we listen to the LI supporter near me who was chuntering after the game about how he’d seen another disgraceful display, that we’d thrown it away and that at least five team members should be put on pension. It’s half full from where I sit. Had we been playing in January and February as we did today we’d not have lost as many as we did in that period. The entire team played with genuine commitment, real courage, and not a little skill. That being said, we know we could and perhaps should have won. But we didn’t.

Were I a London Irish player I would have been kicking seven bells out of the furnishings in the changing room afterwards. I am quite sure they are not happy bunnies, but yet … they should be. They fronted up where they needed to front up. We achieved at least parity in the tight, and some green-wigged folk even thought we came first. We tackled like demons, we ran hard, we backed up, we ran the ball, we used our noggins more of the time than oft-times before, and yet for me we seemed one cog short of a gearbox, not quite the real thing, but close enough to fool a lot of the people a lot of the time. And yes, we were playing against 7/8ths of the pack which has rolled over most of the ZP this season. Nothing there to sneer at.

Individual performances?

IMHO, Murphy had his best game in a London Irish shirt. He put himself about a bit, picked and drove, caught and drove…. and tackled! Must have had an extra Weetabix this morning, or perhaps a chat with his coach during the week? Neal Hatley got himself injured in the first half but stayed on until subbed by Wheatley in the second half. Let it be said that young Dougie is a pretty good loose head and stood comparison with the tyro, Beefy. In fact he had a good game. I dare say that he had offered a prayer to the patron saint of props that he didn’t have to go over to the tight head yet again, where Rob Hardwick was Rob Hardwick. He stood firm when the vizigoths attacked, and budged not an inch. The scrum stayed solid throughout. Rob also pulled off some nice tackles around the ankles of sundry ‘girls’ running at several mph. Flavin worked hard and occasionally promised much, but too frequently threw in ‘creatively’ and handled ‘interestingly’. The second row grunted a lot and worked hard, but is it me or is our revered skipper suffering from something? I hope not, but I find it difficult to reconcile the Ryan I see with the Ryan I recall. Our flankers did the work of ten, and occasionally did so onside! They both rode their luck with Mr Pearson.

Digby had rather more oomph than usual, but Kevin Barratt looked altogether sharper when he appeared. Barry’s line kicking was sublime, his goal kicking only a trifle less so, tending to be on the short side, but his attempted drop goals were not of his usual standard. In fact they were rank. However he made up for it by getting his line moving. Bish worked hard and did all those things that we like Bish for. However, I really cannot remember the last time he went on the outside. This is becoming obvious, and the cover awaits him – every time. I probably exaggerate, but I only recall Paul Sackey getting the ball three times. The first time he could have made a score had he come inside and passed outside, rather than the other way around. The second time he should have scored, simply because 99% of the time Paul does score when he chases up the wing. The third time, he scored. Practice makes perfect.

Mike Horak passed several times and I understand that there may be a whip-round for a plaque. In fact apart from still having an alarming propensity to let the ball bounce before going for it (or not) he caught a lot of bombs and kicks ahead with assurance, and played pretty well, running hard on lines that occasionally delivered territorial advantage. His quick thinking set up our first try.

Who have I left out? – ah yes, our centres. Nick Greenstock and Nils Mordt tackled all day and for all I know are still doing so in the pub, as I write. But they also passed well and made some telling half breaks, especially Nick. On merit, they’ll be hard to displace, when Appleford and Hoadley are again available.

A better day at the office. If nothing else we have demonstrated two weeks in succession that our ‘average’ team can compete with the best in the land. Who’d have said that after the Wasps and Northampton games?

LONDON IRISH. 15 Horak, 14 Sackey, 13 Greenstock, 12 Mordt, 11 Bishop, 10 Everitt, 9 Edwards, 8 Murphy, 7 Dawson, 6 Danaher, 5 Casey, 4 Strudwick, 3 Hardwick, 2 Flavin, 1 Hatley. 16 Wheatley, 17 Paice, 18 Roche, 19 Kennedy, 20 Sheasby, 21 Barrett, 22 Mapletoft.

BATH. 15 Sampson, 14 Crockett, 13 Higgins, 12 Davey, 11 Human, 10 Malone, 9 Wood, 8 Feaunati, 7 Lipman, 6 Beattie, 5 Hudson, 4 Fidler, 3 Bell, 2 Humphreys, 1 Flatman. 16 Martens, 17 Mears, 18 Stevens, 19 Fleck, 20 Scott Gray, 21 Scaysbrook, 22 Barnes.

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