By Nick Marshall
March 24 2012

With the sun shining and the ground hard, the conditions at least were favourable for Bath to throw the ball around. But when going up against a team that has been at the top of the Premiership for pretty much the whole season, it was going to be a tough game for Bath. I was looking down the team sheets before the game, and frankly man for man the teams are quite evenly matched but Quins are just a far better team than Bath because they've been playing together all season and have been playing together for the last few seasons. They are a mature side whereas Bath are a very new one, but I couldn't help feeling confident about this one.

Bath started brightly and Tom Heathcote coolly slotted a long(ish) range penalty within 5 minutes. The whole of the first five minutes was played in the Harlequins half but we weren't able to really push on, and Olly Barkley then conceded a penalty for being offside on his own 22, a penalty that Nick Evans slotted, with the equal calmness showed by his opposite man.

Defence then dominated with both teams finding it very difficult to break down the opposing defence, something teams have become accustomed to when playing both Bath and Quins. Davey Wilson then picked up a loose ball and went on the charge, handing off Danny Care and flicking the ball out of the back door to Claassens, who then shipped it onto Taylor who had the line in sight, only for Mike Brown to make a brilliant try saving tackle. Mike Brown may not do anything flashy, but he very rarely puts a foot wrong and is an incredibly solid presence at 15 for the Quins.

The first of Bath three key injuries then occurred when Louw was over the ball looking to make a steal but a few bodies came in and Louw's right knee buckled, an MCL injury I think. Bath's captain and comfortably best player of the season so far was now off and this was a huge blow. Bath were able to extend the lead to 6-3 through the boot of Heathcote. Before half time, Nick Evans managed to miss two pretty easy penalties for his standards, and Bath went in 6-3 up at half time. One has to feel though that Bath should have scored, and Quins possibly could have as well. Joe Marler had been sin binned after half an hour for a high tackle on Tom Biggs, the skin on Biggsy's neck must feel like leather now after a string of similar tackles this season!!

Bath started the second half pretty brightly when Carraro gave a lovely little offload inside to Heathcote who showed some pace to sprint clear, Heathcote then timed his pass nicely to Woodburn. Woodburn tried to hand off Monye, but Monye hauled him down, got back to his feet and won the penalty - looking back at it on tele, I don't actually think he fully released Woodburn but it was brilliant defending nonetheless.

The moment of the game for Bath then came - Abendanon cut through, raced away, chipped through and it looked a certain try for Woodburn, but he sadly fluffed the chance. You've got to think that would have really given Bath huge momentum at a very important time of the match. This in a nutshell really encaptures the season as a whole in my opinion - promise shown but no end product!!

The second of Bath's big injuries then came, Abendanon - after some brilliant work he made a sweet offload to Woodburn but then got crunched. I think it was a shoulder injury, and I don't think it looks too bad, but he could be touch and go for next week.

Nick Evans then pushed Quins ahead with a couple of penalties, and after that Quins never looked like losing. Cuthbert was sent to the bin for tackling Brown in the air. Quins' pressure continued and was rewarded when they went over powerfully for the games only try.

Our last injury came just before the end when the Quins try scorer Fa'asavalu came in with a huge hit on Heathcote, it was given a yellow card. Heathcote is ok though, no concussion, but understandably struggling to move his neck!!!

Jack Cuthbert unfortunately missed two late kicks, and it's a real shame as I think we deserved at least a losing bonus point. On a day that promised running rugby, the game never really felt like it got going. Bath showed real heart, as they have all season but I feel we really lack a killer instinct. I think Olly Barkley is very much on borrowed time in the 12 shirt and I think when Stephen Donald returns to fitness, I'd hope Heathcote will move over to 12. Credit must go to Quins who defended brilliantly. Nick Easter, Mike Brown and George Lowe were the stand outs for them in my opinion. But this game really reflected the season as a whole in my eyes.

Familiar story for Bath

Discussion started by BathRugbyEre.co.uk , 24/03/2012 21:48

BathRugbyEre.co.uk
24/03/2012 21:48

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:03:30:22:18:57 by Glen The Ed.

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Bathbird
24/03/2012 22:43

Good report Nick, pretty much sums it up. We could've should've won that match (how many times have we said that this season!)

The future's bright - the furture's BLUE, BLACK and WHITE!!!

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Widcombe boy
25/03/2012 11:49

Great unbiased report Nick. Thanks

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Miles Offside
25/03/2012 19:40

Thanks for that Marshie, good objective report of a sadly familiar tale this season, Bath coming out second in a tight contest. That really did deserve at least a losing BP, but this league is so hard you have to make your own luck and we didn't. Hard to see us turning it around in the last few matches. We really have got to find that edge somewhere.

Hope the boys who took knocks aren't too serious, especially Francois.

Keep the faith.

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Bri
25/03/2012 20:08

What aloud of@#$%&lol,well done

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