By Glen Leat
September 11 2004

A mass of blue, black and white arrived at the Rec with great expectations to watch their heroes play Newcastle Falcons despite the disappointment of the previous week. This was the opportunity to show that early loss was just an aberration. It wasn't and a very poor Bath team were well beaten 33-18

For the second time in two games Bath found themselves at the wrong end of a good hiding and conceding another four tries to give their opponents a winning bonus point. Whereas the loss last week, against a very strong Saints team at the (almost) impregnable Franklin's Gardens, was no surprise the manner of our defeat this week against a jobbing team like Newcastle at the Rec is little short of pathetic.

In the week leading up to this game John Connolly talked up the "fortress" atmosphere of The Rec and the impact this would have on opposing teams. Well on this occasion it looks as though Rob Andrew was the big bad wolf who came along to huff and puff and blow our house down. No wonder he had a big grin all over his face at the end of the game, he can't have imagined he would be walking away with a bonus point as well as a convincing win.

It was great for English rugby to see Jonny Wilkinson back in harness but this wasn't one of his better days, yet they still put four tries on us and the boy wonder dropped two lovely goals. Nevertheless his all round kicking game was distinctly average and he must be a long way from total confidence judging by how quickly he off-loaded the ball every time it reached his mitts. Thank God we played Newcastle before Jonny gets back in the groove!

The game started at a trot with both sides appearing to want to warm themselves up as though getting ready for a training run. The early plays looked very much like the pre-match training routine as players run and pass over 20 yards without any contact. Unfortunately Newcastle warmed themselves up a lot quicker that the home side and after just five minutes Mike McCarthy ran through Alex Crockett to score. The Bath heads were hanging, "What happened? What happened?" as the mole on Deputy Dawg used to say: the players looked a bit unsure as well!

Within another ten minutes the visitors were 0-15 in front following a penalty and Tom May try, again as a result of sloppy defending. Things were going from bad to worse and the Bath players looked like a scratch team with no prior knowledge of one another. I half expected a policeman to stroll over to Martyn Wood and say (pointing to Chris Malone), "Have you seen this man before sir?". "No sir" replied Wood, "Never seen him before in my life!"

An Andy Beattie try just shy of 20 minutes gave Bath a chink of light and they started to come out of their shell a bit. But soon afterwards Mike Stephenson made the Bath defence look as organised as that currently enjoyed at Manchester United and it was back to square one for the home side. A late Malone penalty took the half-time score to 8-22 and I hope Connelly and Foley gave the Bath players their version of Ferguson's hair-drier treatment.

The second half wasn't a great deal better, though Bath's man of the match, Brendan Daniel, scored twice and several other times showed glimpses of what he has to offer if only we can give him the ball when he at least has half a chance of running instead of setting him up in blind alleys. Part of me hoped the public announcer would ask us to vote for the worst player as at least there would have been some competition for the winner.

Mike Tindall made a dazzling run right at the end to set up Daniel's second try and then came back and shook his fist at the fans saying "Come on!". Are you having a laugh mate? You and yours have dished up the coldest tripe I've watched for a long time and after 80 minutes of consistent indifference to the game we lovingly call rugby and you tell us to "Come on"? 

Last year we relied too much on the forwards to get us out of jail and I don't think they'll be able to deliver in the same way this year. Our props are either knackered or two small and Zac has become too predictable from the set plays, like Ben Clarke did in his final spell with us. I also hate seeing Zac out wide so often, he actually gets in the way of the "proper" backs as they try to run with the ball. 

In the backs Wood and Malone haven't got what it takes and Crockett is not a winger, though I enjoyed his tackle on a flying Falcon which took the lad out of play and gave the ricochet ball to Bath. All  you have to do with young Alex when he's on the wing is chip ahead and turn him, he can't compete with genuine wingers like Mike Stephenson.

On the positive side Mad Dog looked like he was up for it, though his kicking suggests he's a better winger than full-back and Brendan Daniel must stay fit as he looks like a bloke capable of scoring against any team.

We're bottom of the league and our next two games are away, it's a bit of a worry isn't it.

Few glasses of the red stuff tonight methinks.

Bath: Maddock, Crockett, Davey, Tindall, Daniel, Malone, Wood, Barnes, Humphreys, Bell, Borthwick, Grewcock, Beattie, Lipman, Fea'unati.
Replacements: Walshe, Mears, Stevens, Fleck, Lewitt, Scaysbrook, Delve.

Newcastle: Shaw, May, Noon, Mayerhofler, Stephenson, J. Wilkinson, Grindal, Peel, Long, Hurter, Gross, Grimes, McCarthy, Charvis, Dowson.
Replacements: Ward, Thompson, Hamilton, Sititi, Burke, Charlton, Walder.

Referee: S Lander (nice tan man)