Farewell Lee

By Ed Scott
February 15 2013

Bath entertain London Irish at The Rec this weekend in round 15 of the Aviva Premiership. Both teams put in impressive performances last weekend and will be looking to add vital points to their respective league campaigns. 

Although Bath did not have everything their own way on Saturday, the result, as well as the manner in which they played, put broad smiles on the faithful at The Rec. Bath now sit only four points behind that vital sixth place in the table, with only points difference keeping them behind Exeter in seventh. The big question on all our lips, is can Bath replicate their performance against Worcester and notch up another win this week?

London Irish are currently placed second from bottom, precariously close to the relegation spot occupied by Sale. With only five points between them, the Exiles will undoubtedly be feeling the pressure and this is a game they are bound to target as a potential away win. As such, Bath are faced with a team battling for their Premiership survival and games are running out.

Irish are not far off full strength for this fixture and possess a very dynamic set of backs who full of pace, physicality and skill. They also have two highly capable goal kickers so discipline is going to be vital to avoid giving the visitors an easy foothold early in the game.

Many blamed the missed conversions from the two tries last week as to why Bath weren’t in a better position at half time, but ultimately it was the fact that Bath gave away soft kickable penalties almost immediately after scoring themselves that meant we weren’t out of sight from Worcester earlier in the game. If Andy Goode had been playing they would have had a shot from a couple of penalties that were a distance away rather than kicking for territory and half time could have been an even different score line. The Exiles will have no such problems and Bath need to keep their heads when under pressure.

With a break in the Six Nations this week, Bath welcome back their international props Paul James and Davey Wilson who come straight into the starting line up. Although clearly a boost, I’d like to recognise the quality provided by Charlie Beech and Anthony Perenise over the last few weeks. To defend several five metre scrums without Dave Attwood last week was a testament to the work both have clearly been doing on their tight game, and is a huge improvement on where they both were earlier in the season when it came to scrummaging. I can only assume that this is a result of hard work coupled with the influence of Neil Hatley.

I see Bath being capable of putting pressure on the Irish scrummage and with a slight edge up front in general, but ultimately am keen to see what our backline can do with better quality ball. I felt thought Kyle Eastmond was superb last week at 12. Defences are so worried about his quick feet that they won’t want to drift, and coupled with his excellent distribution skills, I really think he will create space for those around him.

Much is bound to be made about the selection of Donald at fly half, but I think it’s the right call. We know that his kicking isn’t quite right at the moment, but he offers an awful lot in attack and I don’t think is anyway near to being the poor defender he’s made out to be. Tom Heathcote is likely to be the long term solution to Bath at fly half, but we need to be careful about putting too much pressure and expectation upon him. Right now I think it’s good for him to get 30-35 minutes and build from there. Under Donald he can avoid some of the starting pressure (that I think was the downfall of Ryan Davis for example) whilst further developing his running and passing game to add to his already impressive kicking skills.

Irish are definitely a team growing in confidence, but so are Bath. We played poorly against them earlier in the season and now is time to readdress the balance. Bath are on a roll having now won five in a row, but we have no sort of momentum when it comes to the Premiership, with Saturday being the first win since November. We know how we can play so I hope we’re only just at the start of what the rest of the season could hold.

Let’s give Mearsey the send off he deserves!

Match Preview - A new dawn?

Discussion started by Comeonmylovers.co.uk (IP Logged), 15/02/2013 20:51

Comeonmylovers.co.uk
15/02/2013 20:51

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:02:22:21:00:22 by TCM2007.

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abendanon-anon-anon
15/02/2013 22:15

Summed up the threats pretty well.

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OBinexile
15/02/2013 23:04

Excellent summary. also totally agree with comments about improvements to the front-row cover. Combination of lots of hard work on their part and fine-tuning their technical skills by the scrum coach shows what can be done. SIM isn't well respected in these 'ere parts but you have to say that his recruitment appears to have been pretty switched on.

OBinExile

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Bri
16/02/2013 05:16

Great preview,could of written it myself.Agree about SIM recruitment.

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Quel Carreleur
16/02/2013 05:29

Good preview, with good points, I can't really disagree with.
also agree with OBiE - for all that Geech simply wasn't a hands-on coach (and refused to see the need for one), he really did / does have the best little black book in the business

A man who cannot change his mind, cannot change anything

RAEBURN SHIELD

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Old Bathonian
16/02/2013 07:48

Good preview however,

"...We know that his kicking isn’t quite right at the moment, but he offers an awful lot in attack and I don’t think is anyway near to being the poor defender he’s made out to be."

For "qiute right" I'd say "very poor" and as for his defending, he drops of tackles far too much. TH can kick AND tackle I can't see why Gold will not play him.....

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