By Glen Leat
March 28 2004

Bath "doubled" London Irish by beating them (23-21) for the second time in a fortnight in a very close encounter at the Rec but did their level best to hand an away win to the Exiles. There was little between both sides today but Bath managed to snatch victory at the death.

With just moments left in the game and the score standing at 20-16 to the home side, Bath tried to clear their lines but failed to do so and Irish winger, Paul Sackey, stole in for a very late try to give the visitors a 20-21 lead. As Bath heads dropped, the irony of the score (an exact reversal of last week) was lost on few people. As the Irish bench danced with joy, Chris Malone hoisted a massive restart kick deep in to the underbelly of the Irish defence. The whole Bath team appeared to chase the ball, knowing this was their last chance to make amends for a second piece of sloppy defending that resulted in an opposition try, and suddenly the ball was back in the hands of Malone. The whole ground gasped as the young Aussie fly-half pulled the trigger on his kicking foot. This was almost a repeat of last week, but this time the kick was a scuff and the ball wobbled through the air on its way to the posts. Referee Pearson had obviously watched how Tony Spreadbury reacted last week and he too ran all the way to the posts before raising an arm of confirmation. The kick was good, Bath had won and the dream of a West Country Championship was still alive and well.

Unfortunately Bath got off to the worst of starts when, after just two minutes, Irish centre Nils Mordt scored a try from a very quickly taken line-out. Mordt was over the line for his score before half the Bath forwards were within 10 yards of the set play. Home players and supporters alike were shell-shocked by this score and a Barry Everitt conversion saw the scoreboard ticking over for the visitors 0-7.

The next 15 minutes saw the Bath forwards trying to carry on where they left off last week and in one lovely drive reminiscent of that which set up the two tries at the Madejeski, London Irish were lucky not to be penalised for pulling down the maul. However referee Pearson seemed less than keen to penalise the visitors for their indiscretions, preferring instead to laugh and joke his way around the pitch in a style not too dissimilar from Eric Morcambe in one of those plays "what Ernie wrote". Personally I don't like these chatty, ebullient officials who think they are part of the entertainment: I like my referees to be invisible! 

Bath managed to get back in the game after 18 minutes. Rob Fidler took a good line-out catch and got the ball to Martyn Wood. Zac Fea'unati drove forward, passed to Humphreys who off-loaded to Paul Sampson. A chip over the defence initially looked like a wasted ball but Alex Crockett flew past the defenders, scooped up the ball and scored Bath's only try of the day. Malone's conversion hit the posts to leave London Irish still in front.

Barry Everitt missed a penalty just inside the Bath half after Wood was caught off-side at a scrum. Wood continued his mouthy display and on one occasion wound up Kieron Dawson to the extent that the flanker stamped on the scrum-half's foot. Fortunately for Dawson, referee Pearson decided that this was not worth a yellow card which riled the home fans somewhat. 

The Bath line-out was not as sharp as earlier in the season and on one occasion they got themselves in to a right pickle with Andy Beattie running up and down the line like a messenger boy. Humphreys' throw was far too long but fortunately Bath prop, Duncan Bell, played like a flanker (if you know what I mean) grabbed the ball and sidestepped a defender. Little progress was made from this play but isn't it lovely to watch a front row forward play like a half-back every now and then. No doubt by the end of this evening big Dunc will be telling how he he took the ball at the tail, turned and sidestepped three players and gained 20 yards - and quite right too!

Bath took the lead (8-7) after 37 minutes through a Malone penalty when Irish scrum half, Darren Edwards, tackled Fea'unati before the scrum had finished. Edwards, like Wood, is a sparky little character but he is as much a liability at times as our guy by trying to do too much too often. Listen guys, cheeky chappies you may be but modern day referees do not like "cheek chappiness" and they'll punish you accordingly. Wood's passing was quite wayward today and Chris Malone did well to make something of a few of them: the Bath coaches would do well to get the lad practicing his throwing technique in training, perhaps with his gob taped up for good measure.

London Irish regained the lead (8-10) after 39 minutes when Rob Fidler was (rightly in my opinion) penalised for pulling his opponent down at a line-out, however within a minute Bath had a penalty in front of the posts and Malone gave his side a 11-10 half time lead.

As in the first half, Irish scored early to re-take the lead (11-13) through an Everitt penalty. Frustratingly this penalty followed a Malone mistake when he over-cooked his clearing penalty kick from inside the Bath half and gave Irish an attacking scrum back at the kicking spot from which they won their penalty. This unforced error was not what Bath needed as they looked to extend their lead and take the pressure off themselves. 

Nip went to tuck once again with another Bath penalty after 49 minutes and the score was extended to 17-13 ten minutes later with another excellent Malone drop goal. Surely Bath could now nail this game and make the next score! They did, thanks to Chris Sheasby straying offside and, with the score at 20-13, Bath looked like certain winners.

But don't underestimate this London Irish side, they have a lot of spirit and an ability to draw errors from their opponents. Firstly Michael Lipman was penalised for not rolling away after a tackle, to make the score 20-16 and then Sackey took advantage of sloppy defending to give the visitors what seemed a winning score.

But then Chris Malone stepped up to the plate once again and did the business with his wobbly drop goal. The crowd roared with delight and the Irish players and travelling fans must wonder what they have to do to beat Bath.

All in all this was an average game to watch, but the excitement at the end more than made up for the mediocrity.

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

Scorers

 

Bath: Sampson, Crockett, A. Higgins, Davey, Human, Malone, Wood, Flatman, Humphreys, Bell, Fidler, Hudson, Beattie, Lipman, Fea'unati. Replacements: Martens, Mears, Stevens, Fleck, Gray, Scaysbrook, Barnes.

London Irish: Horak, Sackey, Greenstock, Mordt, Bishop, Everitt, Edwards, Hatley, Flavin, Hardwick, Strudwick, Casey, Danaher, Dawson, Murphy. Replacements: Wheatley, Paice, Kennedy, Sheasby, Barrett, Mapletoft, Gustard.

Referee: Dave Pearson