By Glen Leat
October 30 2004

Bath will travel home kicking themselves and, if allowed, having kicked the video referee as a very controversially allowed Leinster try contributed to an Irish 30-11 victory at Lansdowne Road. At the time Bath were within touching distance of a great victory but the score sealed their fate.

Gordon D'Arcy's 68th minute try turned this game from a close encounter into a rout and robbed Bath of the opportunity to spoil Saturday night's Irish party. Referee Nigel Williams had sufficient doubt about the validity of the try to call on the services of the video referee but unfortunately this person decided that a ball which has not been properly grounded and was not in the control of the (alleged) ball carrier was still a try. It may be a score in your little world mate but in the world of rugby it's not a try! Even Dewi Morris said it wasn't a score and this decision potentially affected the outcome of the game.

But this defeat doesn't just hang on the decision of one man, this loss can mainly be attributed to another poor performance by the Bath backs, though losing Robbie Fleck to injury early in the game didn't help. Fleck was replaced by Spencer Davey who was soon in the game as he set up Alex Crockett for a super little score that set Bath up for a strong period both sides of half time.

Mind you not having a proper full-back on the field doesn't help. Chris Malone tries his best and may be able to hack it at the back against average opposition but against top class runners like D'arcy, O'Driscoll, Hickey and Horgan he really doesn't stand a chance. Malone was flat footed by both Hickie and Horgan for the first and last Leinster tries, not laying a hand on them as they ghosted past to the cheers of Lansdowne Road.

The Bath forwards were once again magnificent and rumbled for 80 minutes with the tough and uncompromising Leinster pack. But forward dominance is not enough at this level, teams have to convert the possession in to territory and points and whilst Bath had plenty of the former they just couldn't break through the home defence to secure the latter. The pack must have been snarling over their tea at half-time having pummeled the Leinster line for five minutes just before the break. It was difficult to see how they didn't score and when referee Williams ridiculously awarded a penalty to Leinster after a third scrum collapse the Irish side knew they had the luck on this day.

The Bath line-out looked sound as ever but it definitely lost a bit of spark when Jonathan Humphreys was replaced. The Bath skipper was not a happy man as he trudged off the pitch and clearly wanted to make the sort of contribution he enjoyed earlier in the season at Welford Road. The only major area of weakness in the Bath pack was Matt Stevens, who replaced Duncan Bell just before half-time, and he was twice warned by the referee for failing to keep on his feet in the scrum. Like Malone, Stevens is fine against the lightweights and in the loose but stick him up against an old warrior and he's out of his depth. The talk of conversion to a hooker seems out of favour at the Rec but Bath cannot be building their future front row on the likes of Stevens as things stand at present.

Both Martyn Wood and Olly Barkley had good games, with Wood snapping passes so sharp that Barkley was lucky not to have left the field with cuts on his palms. Likewise Barkley mixed up his game and laid on several beautiful kicks, with one up and under putting the Leinster defence in such a spin that Spencer Davey was able to grab the ball and feed Crockett for his score.

This was a game Bath could have won (like so many other) but they didn't and we have to get on with it, regroup and look forward to meeting Saracens at Franklyn's Gardens next week. I'm off for a beer or two!

Leinster: G Dempsey; Horgan, O'Driscoll, D'Arcy, Hickie; Holwell, O'Meara, Corrigan, S Byrne, E Byrne, O'Kelly, Cullen, Miller, Jennings, Costello.
Replacements: Nebbett, G. Hickie, Gissing, McCullen, Easterby, Contepomi, Brown.

Bath: C Malone; A Higgins, R Fleck, M Tindall, A Crockett; O Barkley, M Wood; D Barnes, J Humphreys (capt), D Bell, S Borthwick, D Grewcock, A Beattie, M Lipman, I Feaunati.
Replacements: L Mears, M Stevens, G Delve, R Fidler, J Scaysbrook, N Walshe, A Crockett.

Referee: Nigel Williams