By Miles Offside
December 27 2010

Not the Match Report - Bath v Exeter 26 December

The first white Christmas in Bath for many a year heralded the long awaited first premiership fixture between Bath and Exeter, write ‘Ere’s on-scene reporters Miles Offside and Jim Nasium, and neither side went home the loser…

Your intrepid reporters arrived at the Rec on a bright sub-zero day ideal for ground staff to shake their heads whilst sucking their teeth in a generally unoptimistic manner and stating that the ground was unplayable.  The fact that the match was postponed did not, in these reporters’ opinion, detract from the true Rugby Fan’s need for a report of events at the Rec on Boxing Day afternoon. 

As expected, the good natured festive crowd stayed away in record numbers for the initial postponement of this non-traditional local derby. 

No surprises in player selection with both team sheets completely empty as both coaches took the decision to rest their entire squads.  Consequently there appeared to be a marked reluctance of either team to take the field, a decision which had a marked effect on events throughout the afternoon, in what had been widely expected to be a close contest.

Given the ground conditions and postponement no one was surprised when the first period proved largely uneventful.   Predictably, the reduced number of players made it difficult for either team to adopt an expansive passing game. On the plus side, Bath’s supposed frailty in the scrum and lineout was nowhere to be seen, and Steve Meehan and his coaches will have been delighted with a massive reduction in unforced handling errors.  The game inevitably took on a mostly defensive pattern, and Brad Davis’ defensive planning once again proved its value to the team, as the first half ended with events finely balanced with no score.

Despite a strong general feeling that the game needed an injection of activity to prevent it becoming totally frozen out, both coaches retained faith in their starting line ups for the start of the second half, which quickly took up the static nature of the first period.  Sensing that the opportunities of grabbing a four try bonus point win was slowly sliding away over the frozen playing surface, the inactivity then took on a more urgent nature.  The atmosphere within the empty stadium developed to a level where it was completely undetectable and appeared to directly influence events on the ground.  We entered the final part of the game with a series of event, which had it taken place, might have proved the talking point of the game.  The defending side were forced to absorb wave upon wave of total inactivity and only just held out for the end of the game.  

Before the match Bath’s head coach, Steve Meehan, had described Exeter’s style of play as “limited but effective”.  Little more evidence of his percipience is needed after the spectacle that didn’t unfold today.   

As for Bath, their unbeaten home record now looks like extending to almost 21 consecutive days.  Their recent record in temperatures well below zero may have them dubbed “the Ice Men”.  We only hope they do not turn to slush come the thaw.  

 Yours in Rugby

 Miles Offside & Jim Nasium.