Bath Out For Revenge Against Newcastle


By Glen Leat
December 18 2003

At last we are back to "proper" rugby facing opposition able to challenge our ever-growing winning home record. Despite the disappointment that Jonny Wilkinson will not be on show, beating the Falcons to extend our lead at the top of the Premiership is the early Christmas present we all want.

This game sees a clash of two teams in good form at present. Bath's only loss in 14 games in all competitions this season was to Newcastle and the league leaders will want to punish the side that stole their perfect record! Newcastle's only loss in their last six games was away to Wasps. The Falcons were suffering from an abysmal away record for a year yet have managed to turn things around and have won three away games on the trot.

Newcastle have played at the Rec eight times in the Premiership and only walked away once as victors: given the form Bath enjoyed prior to the Parker Pen games it is unlikely that the Newcastle players will be sipping champagne on the bus back home. 

Robbie Kydd will be in Bath colors for the last time, as he starts the game on the bench prior to moving on to Saracens, as will Wylie Human who will return to South Africa after this match. In form flanker Michael Lipman makes a welcome return to the pack after his suspension and with Martyn Wood still serving his penalty, Hentie Martens keeps the scrum half slot.

Let's hope the recent European fiasco has not dulled the edge of our form and we can run out winners. I think we will and by a margin of 10-15 points.

Probable Bath Line Up

15 Matt Perry 14 Wylie Human 13 Alex Crockett 12 Kevin Maggs 11 Andrew Higgins10 Olly Barkley 9 Hentie Martens 1 David Flatman 2 Jonathan Humphreys 3 Duncan Bell 4 Steve Borthwick 5 Rob Fidler 6 Andy Beattie 7 Michael Lipman 8 Zak Feaunati

Click on to the Newcastle Falcons site for their perspective on things.

Click here to read about the encounter between Bath and Newcastle earlier in the year.

In preparation for this clash let's have a look at a few recent statistics:

Played 16 %
Bath Won 10 60
Falcons 6 40
Drawn 0 0

Biggest Win

Bath 45 - 12 13 Nov 1999
Falcons 36 - 9 28 Aug 2002

Last Meetings (Bath scores first)

25 Oct 2003 17 - 19 Kingston Park
10 May 2003 24 - 12 The Rec
17 Nov 2002 24 - 20 Kingston Park
28 Apr 2002 9 - 36 Kingston Park
25 Nov 2001 24 - 9 The Rec
28 Apr 2001 18 - 9 The Rec
11 Feb 2001 23 - 24 Kingston Park
16 Sept 2000 19 - 12 The Rec
25 Jan 2000 20 - 16 Kingston Park
13 Nov 1999 45 - 12 The Rec
16 Jan 1999 16 - 11 The Rec
12 Sept 1998 17 - 19 Gateshead
11 May 1998 15 - 20 Gateshead
23 Aug 1997 13 - 20 The Rec
26 Mar 1994 29 - 5 Kingston Park
13 Nov 1993 46 - 3 The Rec

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