Take note please Bruce!

By Nicola Curtis
December 24 2011

A painful game at Franklin's Gardens saw Bath demonstrate just how bad things are in the club at the moment- an improved second half display did not do enough to paper over the cracks.

Watching sport on Christmas Eve felt a bit wrong and so does writing about it, so I can’t promise an especially insightful match report.  In any case, my patience with Bath Rugby at the moment is running a bit thin and it was going to take a cracker of a performance to make me feel festive towards the boys in blue, black and white.

Certainly playing Northampton Saints away wasn’t an ideal way to get back to business after a rather miserable two games against Leinster- the Saints are perhaps not currently at their tip top best, but they were likely to feel pretty confident about hosting the West Country side.

Franklin’s Garden was chock full of rugby fans getting together before Christmas for what would be an early Christmas present for one of the teams.

Northampton started the half the strongest, getting up to the Bath 5m line in the first minute, but a mistake from Ben Foden saw Bath heading up the pitch with surprising ease. It was a tale of to-ing and fro-ing at the opening of the half, with the teams taking turns to turn the ball over and then duly lose it.

It wasn’t until the 13 minute mark when points first appeared on the board as the Northampton forwards were penalised at the ruck, and Olly Barkley slot the ball through the sticks for three points. But as all the best sides do, Northampton hit back straight away through a well worked try across the field which was scored by Phil Dowson. Ryan Lamb missed the penalty. No worries- Northampton scored another try within minutes when Lamb chipped above the Bath defence and a sweet try was scored by the Saints. I didn’t really notice any tackles coming through and Tom Wood went across the line easily. This time Lamb did add the extras.

From this point, Bath seemed to visibly panic. Northampton were bashing through the Bath defence for fun. The throwing and kicking was haphazard and I was eyeing up the Baileys with only 25 minutes gone.  A Northampton assault on the Bath line saw Nick Abendanon yellow carded when he hung onto the ball in the wrong position on the floor. Lamb added the three from the penalty and the score was 15-3.

The missing man counted when the ball suddenly appeared near the line and no Bath players were there to stop Elliott from going over the line. This was loose, soft and simply not good enough. However, if us poor Bath fans thought that would be the end of it, boy were we wrong! Northampton didn’t seem to stop until the end of the first half and the Bath defenders had seemingly lost the ability to tackle.

I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the Bath fans watching at home had got on to the gin during half time and it was with a feeling of wanting to watch through my fingers that I switched on for the  second half.  Barkley got an early three points which was something but it was going to take a lot of belief from Bath to stop Northampton walking all over them. A minute or so of decent play wasn’t enough to generate belief- and Northampton were soon hammering at the line. A second yellow card for Bath saw 14 against 15 again as Stephen Donald was sin binned for something nefarious on the ground in a desperate attempt to stop what seemed to be a certain try. Bath were not as bad in the second half as the first, but that isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement.

Samu Manoa was sin binned for taking out the Bath support jumper at a lineout and James Downey was sin binned all of one minute later for offside- it was now amazingly 15 men against 13. Bath had an attacking scrum 5m from the try line and Francois Louw smashed across for Bath’s first try. Much better- but against 13! If Irish could please only send out 13 players on New Years Day, that would be smashing.

Lamb had a penalty a few minutes later however, after Olly Barkley decided to kick the ball away downfield, despite having two extra men. A let off for Bath then, that Lamb missed.  The time with two men off the field was cleverly used up by Northampton and they spent far too much time in the Bath half for my liking. After the Louw try there seemed to be a tiny bit of light at the end of a very long tunnel for Bath, but they simply did not use the situation well enough-all the play was near the Bath line. If Saints had had their full compliment, they surely would have scored many times at this stage in the match.

Bath did at least manage to tough it out in the second half and prevent Saints from scoring any more points. Stuart Barnes said in commentary that Bath showed some heart and guts in the second half which I agree with in part; they certainly weren’t as bad as the first half had promised, but then that isn’t saying much. To have two extra men on the field and still be walked all over is a bit embarrasing.

It is fair to say that all at Bath are testing all loyal fans patience this season. Any moments of good play from Bath were quickly forgotten because of the myriad of mistakes. There was some definite improvement in the second half but it was nowhere near the standard required. Frankly, watching this game on Christmas Eve was the last thing I wanted to do, and those fans who travelled all the way to Northampton deserve to be bought a large drink by the players.  Merry Christmas everyone and let us try and forget this game ever happened!

Bath humiliated by the Saints

Discussion started by BathRugbyEre.co.uk , 24/12/2011 17:57

BathRugbyEre.co.uk
24/12/2011 17:57

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:01:01:17:04:45 by Susanne.

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WembdonJumper
24/12/2011 20:23

Thanks for taking the trouble to write this article, it would have been so easy to say 'was it worth it'. My wife is now getting well and truly fed up with me repeating 'what a stupid kick, they are running it straight back at us and we have gained nothing'. However, I was able to impress her when I told her that Stuart Barnes said exactly the same during the interval comments. Why as a lay man can I identify this poor tactic yet the player can't. Could it be that I care what is happening but the player isn't really bothered, after all he will still have a good salary paid into his bank account!
Our restarts and kicking out of hand are pathetic, but then as I have already said do the players or coaches care?

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K9sixtwo
24/12/2011 21:08

A fair report, i live just over 35 minutes from what is my "home" Bath fixture, and thankfully due to work I could not make it today and therefore saved myself the pain of paying to watch that rubbish, as an aside I felt we could win this and placed a bet on the game on the strength of my belief in Bath Rugby and th efact that the players had been talking the game up, lets face it, on paper we are a almost world class side peppered with internationals, oozing talent and with some of the biggest names in rugby coaching the side,.
In reality I see a team using the sort of tactics that the 3rd XV of my local sat/sun fun club would use, run straight and "hope" to break the line, at restarts kick and "hope" they knock on, the lineout which has been strong this season degenerated into farce with each lineout being thrown to the front, always the safest place to throw, and then going nowhere as saints were ready for it, there is no imagination in the running apart from Bendy, who gave us a fantastic hit today and some lovely running , but on a hiding to nothing with no support, our front three appear ineffective and cannot seem to counter any scrum let alone the saints, Caldwell Attwood and Louw conssitently impress me, and here's the problem i go through the team and each name i think "yes he did ok" so where does the problem lie, clearly with the coaches, with no attack coach in the day and age of professional rugby is akin to a sin, Is it no wonder we look aimless and rubbish going forward, and yet again we see kicks upfield with no one chasing them, allowing the opposition to regain the ball and sally forth at there will, rubbish rubbish rubbish..When the team walked off at half time they were beaten then ,
Tthankfully after half time saints decided that they too could do with a bit of Panto and joined in the whole comedic experience, however when you have two of your jesters sent to the sin bin and we then score a quick try , but then spend the best part of the next ten minutes camped on our try line when they have only 13 is as ridiculous as it gets, almost line the Bath Panto script says "when they are down to 13 concede a try for extra hilariarity" sadly this nearly became true....again
I have to hope that against Irish at home they suffer some serious injuries to their first team players in the mad scramble to get onto the team coach to come to the Rec, such will be the urge to get and play us..
Going back to my second paragraph i have to "hope" that Geech goes now, i have seen absolutely nothing that he has brough , playing wise, to the team, he has brought good players to the club, but we are not going to retain them if the play is as poor as this, His rugby tactics book clearly is out of date, and useless, He lead a sucessful Lions tour, when you have the cream of the crop winning is easy, In Poker Ace Ace plays itself..
In rugby the Lions Play themselves

Frankly at the moment Bath rugby appear to be Lions led by Donkeys

and no I don't feel better with that off my chest

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welsh wasp
25/12/2011 11:54

To be fair, you seem to have as many or even more injuries than we have.

Assume Hooper, Taylor, Vesty, Hipkiss, Biggs, Carraro, Skirving are all out injured. Saints just seemed to lack Ashton and a second row.

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CoochieCoo
25/12/2011 12:40

..add Mears, Dixon, Moody, Fearns, Woodburn & McMillan. Not forgetting Eastmond. That's a major part of the squad.

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abendanon-anon-anon
25/12/2011 13:24

Does that excuse the remainder of the squad playing without initiative. You can't tell mr our coaches have taken away their common sense? If you have 2 more men, then that team should dominate?

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marshie10
25/12/2011 13:48

I'd say man for man, we're not far off being as good as Quins, as a team we're miles off being as good as Quins. That shows that we haven't gelled. The buck has to stop with McGeechan. The more that is said about injuries, the worser it reflects on the squad as a whole.

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terracehugger
25/12/2011 17:45

Totally agree, Marshie 10.
Really worried about the match against Irish. I am worried in case by some miracle we win. then SIM will appear at interview(of course, only when we win) and crow that we have turned the corner, and his "pragmatic" style of rugby will continue.
Nicola Curtis, in the first post, has got it spot on- we play panic rugby simply because McGeechan is coaching out exciting and innovative play. Our players seem to be terrified to make any game calls themselves, and simply kick aimlessly out of hand without anyone following up at speed - sauntering forward seems to be the instructions.
Our play is boring and predictable, and so easily read by the opposition.
I feel really sorry for our squad.

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gaz909
25/12/2011 23:15

lets not get too carried away - we are easily good enough to be relagated

urgent action is needed

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m0rris
26/12/2011 00:28

Quote:

terracehugger
Our play is boring and predictable, and so easily read by the opposition.
I feel really sorry for our squad.

Thats it in a nutshell. In the first two weeks we put in a good performance vs Falcons and nearly beat Sarries... after that the other AP coaches just watched the highlights and told their players how to stop the predictable training ground plays.

Unfortunately I already have a ticket for Irish... TBH I can't be bothered to sit there monumentally hungover to watch boring rubbish even if we do win, which would be scant consolation for what I've seen recently and allow issues to be swept under the carpet.

I'm just glad we should get some silverware in 2013... even if it is the Championship silverware.

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Bod
26/12/2011 08:28

Geech impressed by something or other
He does speak then.......bollox.

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abendanon-anon-anon
26/12/2011 10:53

Ex-bod, agreed, but expected I suppose. He's not going to say he's got it all wrong, but some acknowledgement that his plans aren't working and might try a different plan for the remainder of the season, might've given us some hope.

Quite a good write up from Independent with a positive closing mention of Louw and Mercer's attitude.

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johnnyf
27/12/2011 11:47

Have only just brought myself to read this article and don't feel any the better for it.
Only thing I can say is thank you to Nicola for having the strength to both watch and report on the debacle.

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gaz909
28/12/2011 12:00

it was so painful to hear Barnes describing the performance as "abject" but thats what it was

that was a pretty good match squad out there, so what is going to change?

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Bathbadger
28/12/2011 15:46

Glynn Edwards take from todays Chron

Cheers,

Rich

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annie blackthorn
28/12/2011 17:24

Well done Nicola. Glad to say that I was prevented from being anywhere near rugby on the telly for the past 5 days.

We know that a team's success is cyclical - maybe Bath do need to be relegated to finally disabuse all concerned of the left over condescending superior assumption that we are better than we think we are. We are C*** and what is even worse is that we all know (that inspite/despite £millions has been spent on facilities for players, administration, buying in v expensive SH players still C*** rugby is being produced week in week out. We are so bad that no-one even asks me how Bath are doing - they already know it is beyond sympathetic enquiry. Perhaps the players and Coaches who are still spilling out platitudes need to get out more!

It hasn't helped my mood that I was at Twickenham yesterday p.m. which when the pre-match fluff had been got out of the way (btw What Is X-Factor?) provided a great time of entertaining rugby - nuff said.

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Bod
28/12/2011 17:45

"We are C***"
Is this a plural by any chance Annie?
By 'eck we'm miffed!

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annie blackthorn
28/12/2011 18:46

No Bod. Its something you spout on this board every day!

I'm not miffed - way beyond being polite. Grasping a nettle that Quins, Saints and others have grasped before.
IMHO there are many involved with the running of Bath Rugby who are not living in the real world, are still well within their comfort factor when they should be having sleepless nights. What's the saying - they don't even know there is a question, let alone know the answer!

If BC wants to have serious street cred in the Premiership (PRL) hierarchy, in quite a few non sycophantic people's views he needs to prove he can put together a team to run a successful rugby club first.

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