By richfitz
September 12 2010

Despite raining for most of our journey, we managed to park in Avon Street just before 1.30 with the sun shining bright. I must confess that Bath away is our family’s favourite trip, the City is truly beautiful and the atmosphere at the games is always great. Last years weather was atrocious so it was nice to be sat in the sunshine in the IPL stand after a short walk from the town centre.

The first shock was to see David Paice missing from the warm up followed by an almighty groan as we realised that Tagi was missing. Bath away is difficult enough but without Tagi I did fear that we would struggle to match them. The bench had also changed with Homer, Allinson and Herring in for Messrs Paice, Tagi and Malone.

Bath kicked off, aiming for Banahan, Irish collected and Lamb kicked to touch. From the resulting Bath throw in, Irish stole and Lamb pushed Bath back to the 22. Irish again disrupted the lineout, turned the ball over and Bath were pinged for not releasing. Lamb slotted the points for an early Irish lead.

From the restart, Bath again aimed for Banahan, this time he collected and George was penalised for not rolling away. Barclays slotted with ease to draw the sides level 3-3.

Both sides settled into the game, the passing was reasonably crisp, with Bath looking to come on at pace on the reverse pass from 10 and 12 and Irish looking to push it wide as quickly as possible. Bath were slowly ramping up the pressure and from a ruck a boot was thrown to the floor. It soon became clear that Abendanon was missing his boot but despite this he collected a pass and placed an exquisite kick through to the Irish 22.

Bath continued to press and the Irish rush defence was working overtime to keep Bath out of their 22. This was epitomised by Lamb shutting off Moody and Faan nailing anything that moved. From another Bath kick through, JJ went to throw a quick lineout to Delon but slightly hesitated, perhaps a sign of nerves and Claassens was able to charge down, fortunately for us it bounced out on the 5m line and Irish were once more secure in the lineout and able to clear our lines.

Bath continued to attack although a forward pass set up a scrum on the Irish 22. Unlike last week, the Irish scrum was strong, Buckland was forcing Mears up and out and a penalty allowed Irish to again clear there lines with Lamb pushing the ball up to the Bath 22. This allowed Irish to build their own pressure, moving the ball at pace and we created a 3 vs 2 on the left wing, unfortunately Steffon elected to take contact and the chance was lost.

At this point their appeared to be a flurry of changes with Bath losing Taylor, Mears and Banahan and Steffon being carried off and Garvey coming on to replace him. The game continued at pace with both teams looking to attack at every opportunity although the defence was ferocious, as were some of the hits. What ball that Irish got was in my opinion delivered too slowly by Dodge, defensively he is absolutely outstanding but attacking wise he is taking a step before passing and he never makes a clean break, this allows the defence to focus on the 10 and at times Lamb and Bowden were working overtime just to get over the gainline. Bath again built pressure and after an Irish infringement, Mr Pearson played a 30 metre advantage before bringing play back to the Bath half. Vesty cleared to touch and from the resultant lineout Bob pulled the catchers arm in the air and Barclay made no mistake to put Bath in front, 6-3.

From the restart Irish retained the ball however Delon kicked the ball dead from our 10 metre line and Bath were given a great attacking position. From the lineout, Bath moved the ball wide and at pace and appeared to have finally stretched the Irish defence too far. Bath had a 2 vs 1 but the pass to Biggs was too early and Delon was able to realign and nail Biggs into touch in what was try saving tackle, although the assistant ref gave Irish a scrum for a knock-on. Bath got the wheel on, forced the Irish front row up and Barclay again slotted to make it 9-3.

From the restart, Irish turned the ball over, Bowden broke, split the defence and with 2 Bath players offside Mr Pearson elected to play no advantage and award the penalty. Lamb trotted up, pushed it through the posts with ease to bring the half to an end, Bath 9 – London Irish 6.

There were no charges at half-time and from the kick off, Topsy knocked on for a Bath scrum just in front of the Irish 10metre line. The first scrum collapsed, followed by a lengthy stoppage for Flatman, who was replaced by Catt. The scrum was reset again and this time Pearson penalised Bath for boring in although from seat Wilson clearly dropped the scrum, so a penalty either way. Delon stepped up for shot at goal which was a good 5 metres short and the ball was cleared to the 10 metre line. From the lineout Bowden knocked on due to a breakdown in communication and from the scrum Clarke dropped his binding, forcing the scrum to collapse and was duly penalised.

From the penalty Bath kicked to the 22 and played a lovely flowing move for Abendenon to slide in under the posts only to be pulled back for a forward pass. This allowed us to switch Corbs for Faan, which strengthened the scrum and allowed us to clear our lines. Bath were again building the pressure but the Irish defence were solid until Elvis lined up Vesty, lifted him in the tackle and dropped him on the floor. There was nothing malicious but it was a clear penalty and yellow card, although the pathetic ovation from one end of the ground left a bad taste in the mouth.

Bath elected to run the penalty and Irish eventually drifted offside to allow Barclay to make it 12 – 6. Just as an aside Barclays kicking style is just sublime to watch, there is never more effort than required and the ball seems to glide over the bar.

Anyhar, from the restart, Claassens kicked long to touch and Irish had a perfect attacking position on the Bath 22. Unfortunately Bath stole the subsequent lineout and looked to move it quickly. Barclay stepped Dec and was away, kicking the ball long into the Irish 22. JJ knocked on, Bath kicked on, Dodge did his usual brilliant sweeping to clear but the pressure was really on. The unlikely saviour was Vesty who with a 3 man overlap chose to take it on himself and Irish were able to slow it down and eventually clear.

Bath were continuing to attack but with Irish holding them with a strong rush defence and with Elvis’s sin binning due to end it appeared that we had survived relatively unscathed. However from a midfield ruck, Abendenon picked up the ball ran around the back of the ruck and ran into George. Now to be honest I couldn’t see what happened clearly but Abendenon was flat out and Hooper and Dixon clearly had issues with George. The stand nearest the incident were baying for blood and following consultation with his Ass (not a pun) Ref, George was sent off. Having watched it back, it was never a red card but at full pace and with a ruck between him and the incident I can see why the Ass Ref felt the incident merited a red card.

Elvis came back on and Irish chose to make changes with Maps on for Bowden and Lahiff on for Dermody. Barclay missed the penalty and the score remained at 12-6. Despite playing with 14 men, Irish started to build a little pressure and were awarded a penalty on the Bath 10 metre line right in front of the posts. An easy 3 points surely but Dodge chose to tap and run, pushing Bath back to their 22 before Roche knocked on and Bath cleared their lines. This time JJ collected the ball and produced a scintillating run back into the Bath 22. However as before the pass from Dodge was way too slow, the impetus of the attack was lost and Bath were able to clear. This was Dodge’s last play of the game as he was replaced by Allinson.

Irish were now on the front foot and with much quicker ball from 9 and Maps punching holes in the Bath defence, the tide was now turning. Irish pushed deep into the Bath 22 and the Forwards set to a series of pick and drives, slowly pulling in more and more defenders. With a three man overlap on the right, Allison fed Lamb who fired out a flat miss pass to JJ who slid into the corner. Lamb stepped up and slotted a beautiful conversion much to the delight of the travelling support and Irish led 12-13. I honestly thought that was it as the clock said 0 however it was the wrong clock, as the clock at other end showed that 7 minutes were remaining!

All we had to do was collect the kick off, drive into the Bath half and we could surely hold out. Unfortunately not, from the restart, a collision between Dec and Roche knocked the ball on and Bath had an attacking scrum just outside the Irish 22. From a strong scrum Bath slightly wheeled the scrum, opened up the blindside and Claassens executed a beautiful grubber kick behind the rush defence and Abendenon was on hand to touch down. Barclay missed the conversion and with minutes remaining Bath were leading 17-13.

Both sides were tired but Irish gave it one last push, forcing their way up to the Bath 10 metre line. For some reason, we chose not to throw it to Kendo, who had been imperious in the lineout and Bath were able to steal and slow it right down with a series of pick and drives. Irish were penalised and that appeared to be that. Lamb was then penalised for arguing and the penalty was pushed 10 metres closer although as Bath would kick it out we all felt it was a bit pointless. Surprisingly Bath chose to kick at the posts and fortunately for them, Barclay was on target, the game finishing 20-13 to Bath.

I found it a thoroughly absorbing contest with both sides very strong in defence, Declan for Irish and Moody for Bath were both excellent. I thought the score was a fair reflection of the game, we certainly deserved a losing bonus point for playing for 30 minutes with 14 men and our defence was at times superb. My Man of the Match was Ryan Lamb who defended the 10 channel superbly and was at the heart of our attacking play, closely followed by Dec and Delon. 6 points from Sarries at HQ and Bath at the rec is a good return and we look well set for a good season, providing we can keep everybody fit!