Bath to open up?

By P G Tips
September 9 2014

One down, twenty-one to go. Last Saturday’s nine point win at Sale was a satisfactory Premiership start for Bath. Not only a win which denied last year’s bogey outfit a bonus point, but victory in a pleasing manner. An early try to catch the home side napping and then a finish of ten late points, sharply taken, after Sale had stolen the lead. Yes, some rust was evident as several key players had missed the warm up games, but the win spoke of growing maturity. Next up for Bath, a home date with London Welsh, before the “nightmare trio” of last year’s top 3 sides in quick succession. In preparation for that challenge, Welsh might seem the ideal opponents. They already have the look of whipping boys about them, being taken apart with ease by Exeter on Sunday at their Oxford base.

Bath should win-comfortably. They must though, avoid the temptation to keep half an eye on the next three games. This is a great opportunity to lay down a marker for the rest of the season. Aspiring champions show no mercy as Northampton Saints showed on the opening night. Bath must play with tempo, variety and above all, ruthlessness. Anything less than a romp will be disappointing. That is the biggest danger for the home team, who will start strong favourites. Complacency is not the only hazard: the coaches must balance a natural desire to rotate the squad against the need to give match practice to the core players ahead of the season’s most demanding period. I believe that they will ring some changes, but stick largely to the same 23 who dispatched the Mancunians on Saturday.

What, then of London Welsh? Surely their defence cannot be so disjointed and porous two weeks running? They will be tempted to spoil everything to keep the score low. However, this squad are just getting to know each other and as a somewhat more talented Gloucester crew showed, that can take time. There should be uncertainty and inexperience for Bath to exploit. In attack their most likely chance of early points should be with the boot: both Olly Barkley and assistant coach Gordon Ross have pedigree off the tee, though Barkley looked out of sorts at Kassam. Maybe Ross (who was billed as “player coach” at the weekend) may need to back himself as a starter? Outside backs May, Scott & Stegmann are lively attackers, but will need better quality ball, more swiftly delivered into space.

For Bath the answer must be, as last season, in the basics. A strong forward platform at set piece and loose phases, dominance of possession and territory will bring the pressure needed to build scores. Opportunities must be taken, clinically, before opening up. Replacements need to be introduced in reaction to the flow of the match – not at predetermined times.

If Bath stick to the game that served so well for most of last season they should win well. That is what I expect. The weather is due to be kind, so we can expect a lot of running. Bath will aim to secure the win, then open up, but London Welsh have a stern challenge in front of them.

Possible teams:

Bath: Auterac, Dunn, Thomas, Hooper, Day, Fa’osiliva, Mercer, Houston, Stringer, Ford, Watson, Eastmond, Joseph, Rokoduguni, Arscott
Bench: James, Webber , Wilson, Attwood, Fearns , Cook, Henson , Banahan,

London Welsh:,Reeves, Britton, Vae, Schofield, Down, Browne, Thorpe, Pienaar. Weepu, Roberts. Scott, Molenaar, May (Capt.), Stegmann. Jewell

Bench: Vella, Henn, Gilding, Corker, Browne, Lewis, Barkley , Crane.

Time to be Ruthless: Bath v London Welsh 13 September

Discussion started by Comeonmylovers.co.uk (IP Logged), 11/09/2014 13:03

Comeonmylovers.co.uk
11/09/2014 13:03

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014:09:17:13:25:07 by Stuart Anderton.

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Never In Doubt
11/09/2014 16:22

My view is that it is way too early in the season to be resting the front row. I would hope the only change is Attwood for Day and maybe Fearns for Fa.

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recrat
13/09/2014 19:21

Not there yet. 4 tries for Welsh...

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