By AlanQuin
March 1 2005

Defeating Bath at The Recreation Ground is a rare event. It is a feat to be savoured and has happened only once before in the eighteen meetings between the clubs in the professional era.
That it has happened a second time is a magnificent bonus in the dogfight to avoid relegation and will go a long way towards the achievement of that goal.

It was not a great game, rather a grim affair between a Quins team knowing they were expected to win and a Bath team scraped together from a depleted squad with 22 players not available due to International calls (5) and no less than 17 due to injuries. That figure increased to 23 as Matt Perry withdrew following an injury in the warm-up. Quins, however, were at full strength.

Displaying a lack of discipline that increased their nervousness as the first half progressed, they had given away the first penalty in the first minute and must have been relieved when Malone's kick went wide. Bath began a series of attacks that started well, promised much and foundered upon a lack of skill and unforced errors. This allowed Quins to start to exert pressure and drive into Bath territory.

Their first chance of a score came from a fine break from the base of a scrum by Steve So'oialo who went through the Bath defence but was stopped inches from the line by a good tackle by Maddock. Another error by Quins allowed Bath to push Quins back.

Play remained in midfield with both sides seeing attacks and pressure fail as knock-ons and other infringements mounted. Eventually, after 23 minutes, a penalty for pulling down a rolling maul, allowed Jeremy Staunton to open the scoring. 0 - 3

It was not to be long before Bath retaliated. Another penalty conceded by Quins allowed Malone to kick deep into the Quins 22-metre area and from another penalty Bath tapped and attacked until Booth's pass inside to Fidler allowed the lock to stroll through a hole in the Quins defence for the first try. Malone converted and Bath were in the lead after 28 minutes.

An excellent run by Tom Williams almost put George Harder away on the wing. Bath stopped him but conceded a penalty inside their half. From the resultant line-out a good catch and drive almost crossed the line but was halted for accidental offside. Although Quins destroyed the resultant scrum, they conceded a penalty in so doing which relieved the pressure and allowed Bath to escape again.

Then, with only a few minutes left in the first half, a collision between Tom Williams and Ugo Monye, as both went to catch an up-and-under kick fired by Malone, left the full-back lying dazed and clearly the worse for wear. From another penalty Malone hit the post but the ball went through and the lead increased to 10 - 3. This served as incentive to Bath and they stepped up their attacks and in the third minute of injury time Lee Mears was allowed to barge through a hole in the defence and score. Malone duly converted.

A subsequent penalty kick by Staunton fell short and half-time arrived with Bath leading 15 -3. We were left to contemplate the possibility of a Bath victory as the penalty count had mounted to 9 - 3 against Quins and it was only a matter of time before they would be kicked out of the match as they were against Worcester.

The second half began with Duffy on for Williams and another penalty to Bath but the resulting line-out was lost for a crooked throw. Then with only three minutes of the half gone, Andre Vos stole the ball at a line-out and a swift passing movement left saw Ugo Monye get over the try-line in the left corner. A superb conversion by Staunton from the touchline pulled the score back to 15 - 10. Those two points ultimately made the difference.

From then on this was a different team to that which had played the first half. Led by Andre Vos and his back row partners, Diprose and Easter and ably abetted by other forwards the Quins drove and drove, retaining the ball through many phases and gradulally exerting the pressure to force more errors from the Bath players.

Ultimately it was that pressure which turned the match. A poor clearance kick by Maddock went straight to George Harder who managed to hold onto the ball and give an inside pass to Dafydd James for the centre to stroll across the line from twenty metres. Staunton duly converted and Quins had regained the lead with only about 15 minutes left to play.

But Bath never had the opportunity to turn the game even though they rang some changes with substitutes and brought on David Flatman to strengthen the scrum. They were kept pinned in their own half by the kicking of Staunton and the magnificent tackling and driving of the back row. The discipline was such in the second half that after the first two minutes Quins conceded no penalties materially assisting the penning back of Bath into their own half.

At the press conference after the match, John Connolly, the Bath coach, had clearly been resigned to the inevitable but was justifiably proud of the efforts of his players. It might have been different had they scored early in the second half. Instead they had contributed to their own demise.

Mark Evans was clearly quietly satisfied with the result. Asked what he had said at half-time to bring about the transformation, he told the press that he had said that 'if we go on giving away penalties we may as well go home.' He continued, 'You cannot control field position if you give away penalties which allow the opposition to kick you forty metres back.'

He went on, 'We looked nervous. We created a lot of chances. Steve So'oialo should have scored when he made that break. I thought we should have scored two tries in the first half. If you exert territorial pressure something will break. Discipline was excellent in the second half. We created five good chances and took two. We just about deserved the win. We have played a lot better than that. Nerves nearly swallowed us being 15 - 3 down in a game you expect and are expected to win.'

He thought Vos was magnificent and Easter did really well and that Steve So'oialo had a good game.

Asked about relegation, Mark Evans confirmed his belief that one team would be relegated if the winners of the 1st Division meet the relevant criteria. He repeated his belief that 37 points is what Quins require to be safe, in other words 7 points from 6 games. We had scored 5 points from our first 8 games and 25 from the next 9 games. He was clearly confident we would not be relegated.

Teams:

Bath: J Maddock (R Pez 73min); A Williams, A Higgins, R Davis, S Booth; C. Malone, M Wood; H Kok (D Flatman 59min), L Mears, C Loader, J Hudson, R. Fidler, G Lewis (G Delve 73min), J Scaysbrook, I Feaunati (capt).

Tries: Fidler 29, Mears 40
Con: Malone.
Pen: Malone

Harlequins: T Williams (G Duffy h-t); G Harder, D James, M Deane, U Monye (S Keogh 70min); J Staunton, S So'oialo; M Worsley, T Fuga (J Hayter 65min), C Jones (J Dawson 65min), J Evans (S Miall 84min), S Maling, N Easter, A Vos (capt), T Diprose.
Tries: Monye 44, James 64 Cons: Staunton (2).
Pen: Staunton

Referee: S Lander (RFU).
Attendance: 10,500