By Glen Leat
September 4 2005

Bath Rugby was stunned by a late Lee Robinson try which saw his side home to a 19-16 victory in the first Bristol -v- Bath derby for two years. A home side victory will have upset the bookies but overall it was well deserved as Bath failed to make use of their talents.

This was a no-win match for Bath as they faced up to the odds-on favourites for a quick return to National Division One. But Bath quickly tipped the odds in the home side's favour as they conceded the majority of possession throughout the match and only secured three from seven attempts at goal. By contrast Bristol may have looked like a side struggling to step up a level but they took their opportunities and accepted every gift offered by the visitors.

Bristol's scorer, Robinson, looked so out of his depth there was a time when I thought the touch judge might throw him a life belt to prevent drowning in a sea of professional rugby. His positional play was wayward and his return kicks, chips and runs were unlikely to challenge Bath yet, as often happens, he turned in to a hero as he rescued his side from certain defeat with a sublime run which made complete monkeys out of the Bath defenders. How a player can be touched by six defenders and break through them all is almost laughable, but this was no joke this was four Premiership points going begging against a team likely to be pencilled in as an away victory by most teams this season.

Bristol will be fortunate to face such an insipid side again this season and judging by this performance I think the bookies will not be far off their estimation of relegation. Mind you, unless Bath pick up their game we might be back to a repeat of a couple of years ago when both sides were fighting to avoid the drop.

However rather that find fault with a Bristol side which is relying on experience rather than rebuilding for the future, judging by the average age of today's pack, its the appalling display by the Bath team which must take centre stage of this report.

The Bath pack was 9 stones heavier than their opponents yet they were pushed and shoved in the set plays and the loose as though there was no weight advantage. I knew we were in trouble in the second half when I saw too many Bath forwards sitting out on the wing taking a breather. Borthwick spent too much time checking the referees' decisions rather than concentrating on is team's weaknesses.

The news that Martyn Wood was to start ahead of Andy Williams, after Nick Walshe had pulled out with an injured back, was disappointing but the ex-Wasp buzzed all round the field trying to inject some momentum into his torpid colleagues. My only gripe with Wood was the slowness of his ball as he fed the scrums, which added to the collapsing, and ensured the Bristol defense could easily prepare for the ever tedious pick up and .... stop by Zac Feaunati. My view for several seasons has been that Bath play better when they up the pace and use the speed of their backs, however this seems in contrast to the views of the coaches and consequently we end up with drudging play that rarely creates a platform for scoring rugby. Today's try wasn't the result of tactics but was an opportunist try scored by a classy finisher!

Chris Malone has been criticised for the past two seasons yet it was the Aussie who gave Bath some hope as he looked to make attacking breaks in to gaps rather than constantly running in to a tackler or kicking for touch. I'm sure Bristol could have stuck a load of static tackle bags on the pitch today and the Bath forwards would have sought them out. The one moment of hope for Bath came after 25 minutes when Frikke Welsh turned the Bristol defenders inside and out as he dashed some 75 yards to score the opening try of the match. This 3-13 lead should have provided a platform for the visitors to go on and win the game but instead of opening up they closed down, showing as much expression, expansion and invention as a half-asleep tortoise minutes before it awakens from its winter slumber.

In recent seasons Bath have relied on a tight, strong pack ably supported by top quality kicking from either Olly Barkley or Chris Malone. Today the pack did everything in their power to even things up for their aged opponents, from losing as many line-outs as they secured to acting out their playbook from A-Z ( that's being kind because in reality it was A-B) without any deviation when it was clear the system was getting them nowhere. Similarly the kickers looked as though they had just set eyes on the kicking tee, with Barkley clearly borrowing his Mother's boots for the day: it's unfortunate on this occasion he chose the peep-toe sling backs which are not renowned for enabling smart accurate pots at goal!

Matt Perry looked strong and brave at full back and, excepting the shabby tackling that let Robinson in for his try, the Bath defence is strong and drifts well to stifle most attacks. However what is it they say about attack being the best form of defence? Unless we start to make full use of our speedsters we'll experience more games like this before the season is through.

Next week we have Saints at home and judging by the mauling they took from The Tigers yesterday this is a must win game for Bath otherwise this season will be a long hard slog.

Well done Bristol, you deserved your victory.

Bristol: Stortoni; Robinson, Higgitt, Contepomi, Going; Strange, Perry; Hilton, Regan, Crompton; Sambucetti, Llewellyn; Salter (capt), Short, Lewis.
Replacements: Clarke, Nelson, Winters, Ward-Smith, Nicholls, Gray, Denney.

Bath: Perry; Maddock, Higgins, Barkley, Welsh; Malone, Wood; Barnes, Mears, Bell; Borthwick (capt), Grewcock; Beattie, Scaysbrook, Feaunati.
Replacements: Dixon, Stevens, Delve, Fidler, Williams, Davis, Best.

Referee: David Pearson (RFU)