Bath
Not quite the perfect day.
By Weston Dave
February 11 2012
It could so nearly have been the perfect afternoon of rugby. Despite the cold, the Rec was at its most beguiling – clear blue skies, the panorama of Bath displayed beyond, whilst the foreground contained the men of Blue Black and White playing the game we all love. Playing, scoring, winning, getting a bonus point. And yet.
But first the story.
Barely 40 seconds into the game, Newcastle infringed at a ruck, Barclay stepped up and Bath were 3-0 up. If you wanted to settle the early nerves it doesn’t get much better than that. Maybe Falcons were just that bit too keen to show they meant business, for it wasn’t long after that, that they were warned for a dangerous tackle on Vesty.
For all their early determination it took nearly ten minutes for Falcons to get a turn with the ball, only to exchange kicks with Bath and then concede a scrum by knocking on. Pressure from there led to Vesty chipping through, Woodburn narrowly missing out on a try, before Bath were awarded a penalty far out on the West stand side. Unfortunately it was beyond Barclay, but again signs of promise.
4 minutes later in almost the same field position, Heathcote showed and went, before delivering a scoring pass to Olly Woodburn who touched down in the corner. Conversion was again beyond the kicker but Bath at 8-0 – going well, or so we thought.
The dream start then morphed into nightmare. From the kick off, the ball went loose amongst the Bath backs, a horrible fumble in midfield was pounced on by Falcons, who showed some clinical handling to spin it wide, with Mark Wilson scoring in the corner. Gopperth converted leaving the scores 8-7.
The nightmare continued with Newcastle gaining a penalty attempt which they missed, but soon making their way back into the Bath 22, winning a scrum. The first attempt resulted in a penalty, which was taken as a further scrum. Newcastle took the ball on from here and via a series of rucks and mauls forced Rob Vickers over for another try – again converted by Gopperth. Score now 8-14.
Following a bout of inept aerial pingpong, where neither kicker seemed to be able to do anything more than find an opponent ready to kick the ball back, Bath managed to gain a long range penalty just inside the half way line. With less than a minute to play, Heathcote took it on, and got within inches – unfortunately the inches in question being the thickness of the crossbar which he hit!
That left the half time score 8-14, and time for a gathering of thoughts, no doubt in the dressing rooms but also in the stands and terraces.
Newcastle seemed to start the second half brighter, pressurising in the corner, and attempting a drop goal. However just as thoughts of Bath’s post half time sluggishness started to enter the mind, a great break by Perenise, followed by a chip ahead (is that allowed in the front row union?), made a try chance for Woodburn, which he exploited to the full. By now Barclay appeared to have handed over the kicking to Tom Heathcote, possibly due to a knock, but again the conversion chance was missed. Score back to 13-14. At the restart one of the Bath players was heard to say “Now we switch on”, and it appeared that this indeed was the case.
Newcastle however weren’t giving up without a fight, and again forced themselves into position for another drop goal attempt – but without reward.
Bath then charged down field, with Tom Biggs chasing a kick ahead, with nothing in front of him apart from the try line. Alongside however was Jimmy Gopperth who took one for the Falcons and took Biggs out off the ball. I can’t really blame him, I’ve seen plenty of similar instances where the culprit has escaped with a penalty, but in this instance the price was high – a penalty try and a yellow card. Heathcote converted from in front of the posts to make it 20-14.
After another period of relative stalemate, Perenise redeemed his front row credentials by grabbing a bonus point try for himself, from a rolling maul in “screen corner”, with Heathcote converted a difficult kick to bring us to 27-14.
An exchange of penalties brought us to 30-17 with five minutes to play. Bath seemed to be looking to consolidate at that score with the five points in the bag. However Newcastle to their credit never looked like giving up, and in a moment of farce grabbed a last minute try. Somehow in the build up the ball managed to bounce off at least two Bath players, each time falling kindly for Falcons, before Chudley scrambled over to give Gopperth the chance to grab the losing bonus point, which he managed without drama.
So on the face of it a good afternoon – bonus point win, and the 12 point margin from bottom extended to 16. And yet.
And yet, it wasn’t quite the perfect day. Despite many positives which I will end with, the nightmare spell in the first half, and the periods of aimlessness, point to a team still half a tone out of tune, half a beat out of rhythm. Newcastle never gave up, and their determination to keep fighting, if nothing else gives them a chance at fighting their way off the bottom – clearly the new coaching team has had a galvanising effect and on this occasion at least despite the loss their supporters can be proud of their team. So it’s hard on that basis to judge whether we struggled a bit against a team that although bottom was starting to find some form like us, or whether we’d just scraped a 6 point margin win against a side 12 points off the pace at the bottom. I don’t think we can answer that today – we can only take this result and move on. Time will tell whether we and Newcastle are on the rise, or whether we both flattered to deceive this afternoon. In a very nebulous sense, I did feel that this afternoon demonstrated a lack of structure to our attack – Woodburn and Biggs (albeit penalty try) made the best of broken play chances, but we threatened little in terms of building through midfield. Do we need an attack coach, or do we need a settled, on form 12-13 partnership, or both?
But to dwell on that would be churlish. Perenise is fast heading for Ubogu style prop idol status, and in general the pack did all that was asked of them. Special mention also has to go to Ryan Caldwell who continues to manage to look as though he’s doing far more work than anyone else. Whether that is true or not, it looks good! Biggs also manages to get through more work per pound of body weight than most. However the final plaudits must go to two players whose success always warms the heart just that little bit extra. I’ll always get more pleasure from seeing our own Academy players doing well, than a big name signing – that’s just the way my brain works, so to see Tom Heathcote make a good fist of flyhalf and getting some good kicks over, whilst Woodburn again gets on the tries column, goes a long way towards making it the perfect day. So to misquote the song –“Not quite the perfect day”, but hopefully heading that way.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:02:16:19:52:28 by Glen The Ed.
Good summary. From where I view the game it looked as if we had the match by the throat 3 times, only to let Newcastle back into it - 3 times. To be honest, up until the loose pass which gifted them their first try there was only one side in it - but a lack of concentration cost us, as did a lack of ruthlessness later.
The second Falcons try was a bit embararassing - for our defence but also for the officials: the scrums preceding the pushover saw 4 crooked feeds unpunished. It is time for the IRB & RFU to decide on this - either a straight put-in matters (in which case regulate it), or it does not (so strike it from the law book so we all know what to expect).
I thought Heathcote had a good all round game, and with a bit more luck with his goal kicking we would have denied Falcons their bonus.
I was disappointed with the officials letting Falcons get away with some pretty blatant offside & "flopping over" at the breakdown - also 2 clear and blatant obstructions on Caldwell in attacking positions. It was in many ways a sloppy match & sloppy officiating had something to do with that.
Anyway, a win is a win - let's see more of them, please!
PG
Quote:lack of concentration cost us
Think I used the word dozy elsewhere, you're spot on PG, they were all gifted tries. That aside we played well enough in the second half.
![[:wor kid:]](/phorum-5.1.15/mods/smileys/images/13.gif "[:wor kid:]")
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Quote:Gareth Redux
That's NOT good! It now makes it harder for us to get 6th spot!
But easier to get to 4th - only 7pts off now!
Stuart
Former ed.
Quote:Susanne
A win is a win and 5 points is great. It's Glaws next week - we'll have to do better to win that one.
A spank for Glaws coming up - tis in my water!
Quote:Bod
tis in my water!
I'd be off to the doctor if I were you - a quick course of antibiotics will help!
We currently sit 7 points off 4th place and 6 points from 5th which gives the vital HC qualification. Not an unassailable amount by any means. We have Glos at home, Exeter away and Wuss home in our next three games. Not easy but all winnable. We've just won four in a row for the first time this season and haven't really hit our straps yet.
Glass half full for me. Bring on next week!
Quote:T=L
Glass half full for me. Bring on next week!
Looking forward to your preview already!
Quote:As it is, we are happy with the result but not necessarily with the performance. We are a bit half-empty. We know we can do a whole lot better."
Nothing can stop the Duke of Earl
I certainly hope they go down so we don't have to suffer their rubbish next season.
Stuart
Former ed.
Falcons had done their homework. Clever of Gopperth to target Woodburn and Vesty with his kicking. Olly was shown up poorly when forced to turn and he had Vesty did not show much mutual understanding in this situation - coaches need to have a look at this if Bendy is going to be out for long. Also I think Sam needs to counter attack more as his kicking out of hand is not accurate nor aggressive enough.
As for Newcastle - trundling mauls, dithering scrum halves, props turning up at first receiver, constantly looking for penalties at the breakdown, big centres taking the ball into contact - reminded me of another team of recent history!
Stuart I will pm you later on - going to watch the match now
Quote:OutsideBath
They offered nothing of value to the game of rugby and tried to bore us to death with kicking.
Regretfully we were brought down to their level and Sam was doing a lot of kicking down Gopperth's throat as well. We were screaming for them to cut out the box kicks etc and eventually they got the message and kept ball in hand. Can't win games without the ball and I do not understand why we kick possession away most of the time.
Quote:Not remotelyOutsideBath
Are the Falcons the worst team ever to play in the premiership? They offered nothing of value to the game of rugby and tried to bore us to death with kicking. Were it not for Bath's occasional ineptitude they wouldn't have got any points.
I certainly hope they go down so we don't have to suffer their rubbish next season.
Rotherham
West Hartlepool
Newcastle of past seasons
Bedford
Bristol
Leeds once or twice
I'd put Rotherham of 2003-4 as the worst
RAEBURN SHIELD
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:02:12:17:13:55 by Which Tyler.
As for the Falcons they are a disgrace and their coaches should be ashamed about what they are trying to do. Why on earth would Gopperth sign a new contract for them?
Quote:TCM2007
Harsh words OutsideBath!
Harsh, but true. Falcons deserve to go down they bored me with their constant kicking. When Gopperth was binned they didn't have a clue what to do.
Quote:OutsideBathQuote:TCM2007
Harsh words OutsideBath!
Harsh, but true. Falcons deserve to go down they bored me with their constant kicking. When Gopperth was binned they didn't have a clue what to do.
I would be interested to know what tactics you would employ,knowing you squads talent is limited,your at the bottom of the league,desperate to stay up and your only real asset is one of the best kickers in the league.
Quote:Brian4455
I would be interested to know what tactics you would employ,knowing you squads talent is limited,your at the bottom of the league,desperate to stay up and your only real asset is one of the best kickers in the league.
I certainly wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket, what happens if Gopperth gets injured? Decent coaches would come up with something better than kick and rush rugby.
Quote:Brian4455
what you are really saying you wouldn't have a clue but they are quote boring,dire and a disgrace un quote.
I'm not a rugby coach, so I guess you've pretty much hit the nail on the head....
Next week will be a real test of our 'mini revival'.
A win against Glaws, who as well local rivals are realistically a side who we should be peers with, will make things much more solid IMHO.
Stuart
Former ed.
Quote:Brian4455
Well seeing you haven'tgot a clue why slag them off so much,you would play to your strength and that their fly halfs kicking.one thing for sure every one of their player gave their all and ran us close.
Clearly we no longer live in a democracy where we can express our opinions, therefore please accept my humble apologies Brian4455 I clearly should have written it was a fantastic game of flowing rugby with a magnificent performance from Bath narrowly defeating a brilliant Falcons team.
Hardly a disgrace.democracy or not.
Stuart
Former ed.
What sort of rugby do you expect them to play?
Quote:Brian4455
What sort of rugby do you expect them to play?
A variety. Tactical kicking definitely has it's place in all games, but 80mins of kick and rush is tedious (it's no wonder their crowds are so low). Let's be honest they only run us close because of periods of inept play by Bath.
I understand you disagree with me, which is fine. Let's move on now.
I just can't get my head around calling another team a disgrace on their game plan with the limited resources they have and wanted to know what game plan he would have used given the squad that was inherited by the new coaches,the disgrace here is the insult to the other club.
Whoever volunteers to do next weeks game (glaws) might find it easier to draw conclusions about our direction from the game and result. Anyway it was an interesting experience doing a match report but clearly I need to keep the day job. Still if it wasn't for debate maybe Ere would be a poorer place, and if people disagree with what I've written, at least it starts a discussion. For me perhaps most importantly, I still feel nothing I've written would be something I wouldn't say to the relevant persons face - I might hide behind a user name, but I don't see that as a facility to take advantage of by being unfair.
Nothing can stop the Duke of Earl
Stuart
Former ed.
I'll do another report at some point having broken the duck - just not this weekend. I'm not really sure anyone wants to know what happens when you get a load of work colleagues including Glaws and Bris ST holders in hospitality - probably not a coherent match report anyway! (Well you might but what goes on tour and all that!)
Quote:Ex-BodQuote:Susanne
A win is a win and 5 points is great. It's Glaws next week - we'll have to do better to win that one.
A spank for Glaws coming up - tis in my water!
Strewth Bod ! that was nearly positive - are you feeling OK?
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