By Glen Leat
September 15 2003

"Let's dunk Bath and start on fire", ex-Bristolian Phil Christophers told the Yorkshire Evening Post this week. But it was Leeds who found themselves "Slam-dunked" by a rejuvenated Bath team at Headingley to go top of the league.

An away win for Bath these days is as rare as hen's teeth and we should cheer the result, however giving up four tries to the opposition demonstrates that there is still a lot to do in both concentration and defensive skills. New coach John Connolly was guarded in his post match comments : "We played reasonably well in the first half and showed good shape but we tailed off badly in the second half."

Two years ago Bath were shocked by the then Premiership newcomers with a narrow home victory and the boot is clearly on the other foot this time as most pundits assumed Leeds would carry on where they left off last season and give Bath a good beating, but it was not to be and the West Country Aussies must be smiling in to their lager on the way home.

It was the stuff of comics when ex-Leeds player, Zak Feaunati, followed up an early Barkley penalty with the first try of the game after 19 minutes and Bath were on fire when Matt Perry followed up with a second try after 23 minutes. The Bath forwards were punching holes in the Leeds defence at will and there was much excitement in the blue, black and white camp as thoughts of a much need victory swept through the minds of the sorely tested West Country fans. 

Chris Malone scored a drop goal and Duncan Hodge replied with a penalty to take the half-time score to 3 - 20 but Leeds were clearly out of sorts as Bath kept them on the back foot throughout the half and coach Phil Davies would need to give his players a real roasting.

Whatever Davies said at half time made a difference because in terms of points scored, Leeds took the second half by 29 points to 24 and evened up the try tally to four apiece. But this didn't tell, the full story as Bath continued to dominate most parts of the game whilst falling asleep at inopportune moments and allowing Leeds to not only get back in to the game but, towards the end, ensure a few Bath hearts were in their mouths.

Leeds finally managed to score, what appeared to be a token try, through David Rees but the two teams then traded scores like two boxers trade punches and before Bath knew it Leeds were level on the try count - so much for the token! Fortunately Olly Barkley's goal kicking made all the difference and Bath ran out somewhat surprising winners. As with the high scoring opening game of the season on Friday night between Sale and the Saints, this was a great game for the neutral observer, not that there would have been may at Headingley today, but it went from being a Bath romp to a nail biting finish and coach Connolly will expect his charges to close out games later in the season.

This was a great start for Bath and to see our team topping the league is wonderful but as the coaches have recognised, there is a lot of work required to get up to the standard needed to beat Northampton next week; but let's not forget this was a new team with a new coach and we won the game. Great stuff!!!!

Let's have a look at the latest league table.

Scorers

Bath:

15 Matt Perry
14 Lee Best
13 Alex Crockett
12 Olly Barkley
11 Brendon Daniel
10 Chris Malone
9  Martyn Wood
1  David Flatman
2 Jonathan Humphreys ©
3 Duncan Bell
4 Steve Borthwick
5 Rob Fidler
6 Andy Beattie
7 Michael Lipman
8 Zak Feaunati

16 Hentie Martens
17 Lee Mears
18 Matt Stevens
19 Robbie Kydd
20 Jamie Williams
21 James Scaysbrook
22 Scott Gray

 

Leeds Tykes

15. Tim Walsh
14. David Rees
13. Phil Christophers
12. Tristan Davies
11. Dan Scarbrough
10. Duncan Hodge
9. Clive Stuart-Smith
1. Mike Shelley (c)
2. Rob Rawlinson
3. Matt Holt
4. Stuart Hooper
5. Scott Morgan
6. Matt Salter
7. Dan Hyde
8. Colm Rigney

Replacements
16. Gary Powell
17. Michael Cusack
18. Stewart Campbell
19. James Ponton
20. Alan Dickens
21. Liam Botham
22. Matt Cardey