By Glen Leat
April 10 2004

Bath made a marvellous comeback to beat Montferrand 29-15 in the first leg of the Parker Pen Cup at the Rec. After trailing 3-15 at half-time, John Connolly's men showed what they are really made of and scored 26 unanswered points.

This win gives Bath a 14 point advantage to take to France in a fortnight and, judging by today's performance, they'll need this cushion if they are to progress in to the Final for the second year in a row. What was amazing about this match is that Bath had more than the lion's share of possession and territory and several key players, notably Rob Fidler, Zac Feaunati, Andy Beattie and Matt Perry performed well throughout the game yet somehow we contrived to make very hard work of this win.

The old adage that French teams don't travel well was at odds with the performance of Montferrand for the first 50 minutes of this match and it is likely Bath wouldn't have racked up a fourteen point lead in this tie had David Attoub not received his marching orders for a second yellow card offence. The visitors played with a strength and ferocity in both attack and defence which both thwarted and frustrated Bath. Judging by the claret-stained shirts and various bouts of fisticuffs throughout the game this was as painful a game to play in as it was for Bath fans to watch: it was only in the final minutes that anyone supporting the blue, black and white could unknot their stomachs and relax in the knowledge that victory was at hand.

The game was played at a fair old pace and referee, David McHugh, appeared to struggle to keep on top of things. Some of his decision making was out of sorts but the best(sic) was when he binned a bemused Zac Feaunati for fighting when it had been Wylie Human who was flagged by the touch-judge. To be fair to McHugh, I couldn't understand why his colleague didn't shout out "Oi David you're sending off the wrong bloke". In keeping with the discipline shown at times of great provocation by professional rugby players Zac tried to protest his innocence, was told to go away and he did. Can you see a top footie player being so accepting of the referee?

It was great to see Matt Perry back for Bath and his first touch of the ball saw him send a spiraling kick some 50 yards down the touchline and his second touch saw him jump and catch a high ball right on the edge of the Bath twenty-two with a very competitive Tony Marsh on top of him. Add to this the fantastic dummy Pezza showed to three defenders and the delayed pass, which took out another defender, to set up Wylie Human for Bath's second try and you could see why we need this man in our team. Perry looked sound in defence all afternoon, was happy to make attacking runs and belied any notion that he had recently endured (what is described as) pioneering surgery. Well played mate and welcome back!!!

Rob Fidler had a great game, playing like a man determined to show he should not be second string to club captain, Danny Grewcock. His pass to Barkley for the opening try was majestic, his play around the fringes was determined and he shook off a nasty clash of heads with Marc Raynaud as though the pain was a badge of honour. This Gloucester man plays with pride for Bath and has done more than enough this season to earn life-long respect of all Bath supporters.

At the end of the first half the TV stats showed Bath having 70% of the possession yet they were losing 3-15. This was mostly due to a Fred Karno-like display, with balls being dropped, tackles being missed and an appalling Martyn Wood pass from a Bath lineout, that was so flat it looked like the residue from a Shrove Tuesday party, it went straight in to the arms of a very grateful Olivier Magne who chased down-field to score.

Magne's try followed another by Gérald Merceron, after Alex Crockett missed his tackle on Sebastien Kuzbik to allow his opposite number to set up Merceron. It could have been even worse for Bath had Olly Barkley and Wylie Human not bundled Aurelien Rougerie in to touch right on the Bath line just a few moments earlier. Bath were reeling and had the French kept their discipline they could have extended their lead as the home side tried every trick in the book to blow their chances of a win. A measure of things is that it wasn't until the 36th minute that Olly Barkley had a pot at goal.

Things did not start off much better for Bath in the second half, as they conceded three penalties in almost as many minutes. Bath needed a breakthrough of some sort and it came when Attoub was red-carded after 50 minutes. Suddenly the Bath pack were in control and five minutes later Steve Borthwick took a lineout catch, off-loaded the ball to Zac Feaunati, who thundered towards the line. At the Feaunati ruck Martyn Wood fed Rob Fidler who deftly slipped the ball to Barkley who tiptoed in for Bath's opening try. Seven minutes later Human scored and the Bath pack then proceeded to dominate the game.

Bath won a series of scrums on the Montferrand line and it was amazing McHugh did not award a penalty try. However he chose to do so when the French scrum collapsed just once too often, but this time Feaunati had already crossed the line to score which will be frustrating for the big Samoan who charged like a bull on heat all afternoon. Andy Beattie scored Bath's final try in the 81st minute after a line-out catch and drive worked to perfection.

This was an exciting game to watch and one Bath fans will have enjoyed more in hindsight than during the awful first half. The return game in a fortnight will be a tough test for Bath and if they fail to play again for the first 50 minutes we will have to settle for watching the PPC Final on the box instead of following our boys to Reading.

 

Bath

15 Matt Perry, 14 Alex Crockett, 13 Kevin Maggs, 12 Andrew Higgins, 11 Wylie Human, 10 Olly Barkley, 9 Martyn Wood, 1 David Flatman
2 Jonathan Humphreys, 3 Duncan Bell, 4 Steve Borthwick, 5 Rob Fidler, 6 Andy Beattie, 7 Michael Lipman, 8 Zak Feaunati

16 Ross Blake, 17 Lee Mears, 18 Matt Stevens, 19 Chris Malone, 20 Robbie Fleck, 21 James Scaysbrook, 22 Scott Gray

Montferrand

1. Brent Moyle, 2. Richard Cockerill, 3. David Attoub, 4. Ed Pearce, 5. Hottie Louw, 6. Michel Dieude, 7. Olivier Magne, 8. Marc Raynaud
9. Jerome Moreau, 10. Gerald Merceron, 11. Sebastien Kuzbik, 12. Tony Marsh, 13. Franck Comba, 4. Aurelien Rougerie, 15. Anthony Floch

16. Fabrice Brandon, 17. Stéphane Delpuech, 18. Philippe Martin, 19. Alexandre Audebert, 20. Elvis Vermeulen, 21. Pat Hhoward, 22. David Bory