By Nicola Curtis
December 18 2010

Amazingly, given the Arctic conditions which arrived in the South-West overnight, Bath’s game against Ulster went ahead today.

 

Less surprisingly, in the frozen wastes of North Wiltshire the roads were exceedingly dodgy, so I was forced to watch the game on TV.  I hate to miss games, but at least this way I didn’t get frozen toes.

The crowd was unsurprisingly depleted, but the Ulster team had manfully struggled through closed airports to get to Bath in an attempt to beat the West Country side two weeks in a row.

Such was the attention paid to the snow, Butch James’s return to Bath colours rather went under the radar. He slotted in at 10, sending Olly Barkley to 13. His return was a much needed boost to a Bath side which has stuttered without him so far this season. 

The ball ended up in Bath hands after the kick off, and it was recycled through the hands of the home side. Lee Mears held the ball until exactly the right moment and popped it to his left, where Matt Carraro was waiting and slammed over the try line. The conversion was missed, but a try after just 45 seconds was the perfect start for the home side.

Michael Claassens almost set up a second try just a few moments later, when he charged down a kick by Ian Humphreys in the 22.  However, the bounce was not kind and the South African was not able to gather the ball and go over the line for what would have been an extremely easy try. A resulting Ulster defensive scrum was pinged by the French referee and the scrum around five metres from the try line was awarded to Bath.  A penalty was kicked at the sticks by Barkley when Andrew Trimble was considered offside and Bath added three points to their total.

A knock on by Danny Grewcock- who was making his 200^th appearance in Blue, Black and White- after the kick off set up an attacking platform for Ulster, and they used an overlap to score a try through Adam D’Arcy. The conversion was taken and the gap was reduced to one point.

A beauty of a kick to the right hand touchline from James set up a Bath attack which gave them a penalty after a high tackle on Claassens. Barkley took the ball and gestured at the posts to give Bath three points.  The Irishmen had their chance immediately to cancel out those points when they were awarded a penalty for crossing. The score was now 11-10 and the one point deficit restored.

A chip kick from James almost to the very far corner had to be carried over the line by Ulster to prevent Matt Banahan from getting the ball down.  An incident off the ball involving Mears saw Bath get a penalty further downfield and forwards on both sides get a good talking to from the referee. Barkley kicked the ball through the uprights and the score was 14-10.

A few scrums were traded in the Bath half and after an Ulster scrum got the ball away to Humphries, the Bath team ganged up on him to bundle him into touch. A Bath line out saw a sustained attack from the home side that which a while to actually gain any territory. A quick thinking James whipped the ball up field when he saw some space but the ball ultimately fell into the hands of Ulster who were given a penalty on the Bath 22. One of the last acts of the half was for Humphreys to kick the ball between the posts and one point was the difference yet again.

A bad kick from Ulster early in the second half went down the throat of Jack Cuthbert and Bath’s attack looked promising but a case of handbags was occurring on the touchline and Butch James was sent to the sin bin. It looked like a harsh call for James, who was involved in some mild pushing and shoving, but the referee went into his pocket to send off the man who had made a real impact on his return to the game. Ulster did their best to use the advantage given to them but Bath managed to work their way up the touch line through two penalties and they at least managed to use up some of the 10 minutes in Ulster’s half.

With five minutes of the ten left to go, Ulster mounted an aggressive attack, but threw a pass forward. Some time was used up with scrums before Ulster attacked yet again- Bath’s defence almost proved impregnable but seconds before James was due to return, Ulster finally got across the gain line and Nevin Spence squeezed into the far corner for a try and after the conversion the visitors lead 14-20. They attempted to add to their points immediately when Bath were penalised on the half way line and Humphreys impressive boot kicked a long penalty between the posts.

Bath had a chance to make a dent into the points deficit with 20 minutes to go and Barkley stepped up to kick- but the ball drifted wide. He nearly made up for his mistake a few moment s later with a cracking kick to the corner to set up an attacking lineout. Try scorer Nevin Spence was sin binned for a cynical infringement when Carraro was near to the try line and Barkley knocked over the penalty to bring Bath back into a converted try of the lead.

Abendanon ran a beautiful line up the far touchline and sucked in the Ulster defence; a great long pass from James into an Ulster-less part of the pitch saw Banahan crash into the corner and score a vitally important try. Barkley couldn’t manage the tight angle and the conversion was missed, leaving Bath one point behind with 10 minutes to go.

A terrible penalty to give away - bang in front of the posts on the half way line - was conceded by Lewis Moody and Ian Humphreys, who had not yet missed a kick, whacked the ball between the posts. This proved to be the killer blow for the hosts. Our ability to give away penalties at important points in matches never fails to amaze me.

An Ulster scum in the Bath half saw the visitors nip up the blind side and follow the ball to the Bath try line. Bath and Ulster shirts were muddled together in a huge pile on the line with only a few minutes to go as Ulster tried to force their way forward for a try. Bath’s defence held strong and they held the ball over and sent the ball downfield but Ulster managed to stop any Bath ball movement. The ref blew his whistle and the final score was 22-26.

This result really stemmed from the Butch James sin bin and the try that resulted from it. This was a real shame as the yellow card - all bias aside - really did seem like a strange decision.  Much worse is waved away in many a rugby game.

Still, it was great to have Butch back and this was definitely an improved performance from last week’s fixture against Ulster.  Matt Banahan looked to be back to close to his best as he returns to the wing and the other Matt, Carraro, proved once again that he is something of an underrated gem.

All credit must go to the staff and volunteers at the club who ensured the game went ahead- it’s just a shame about the result.