Once again I was not to be disappointed, every single time without fail I return to my native lands it always rains, sometimes a light shower welcomes me as though the land is shedding a tear for a lost soul who has returned from the north having found salvation in the form of the holy land at Welford Road. Anyway Friday night, tents are pitched in a soggy field and after a trip to a couple of pubs to warm the soul and a fruitless search for some decent scrumpy it was time to retire before a big game.

Dawn broke and it was time to head in to the fair city of Bath, what Beau Nash would have thought of the meeting of two teams with such a long history we can only speculate at, but there is a chance that the Georgians would have approved of the spectacle these gentlemen gladiators would put on for the fans.

True to form the sky was clear and bright right up until the moment the players ran out to start the game and the heavens once again opened up, creating a very wet and soggy pitch that cried out for errors, there was a groan as we realised that the team would once more be playing in white, would the jinx hold or would we be lucky? Evidently the team were keen rectify this and it was only a matter of minutes before the squad were all in matching mud brown.

The kick was taken and true to form Moody was off like a man possessed, in a short amount of time the possession was ours and the team pushed forward coming away with 3 points from inside our own half with a typical long range kick from Andy in gusty conditions that would test even the most skilled kicker, first blood to tigers and not long after second blood when Wig started to leak the old claret in what became the battle of the forwards with one of many scrums.

Unfortunately Mr White (Chris not Julian) was in charge and seemed to struggle to control the game and the scrums, with players coming too quick, not going down quick enough, going down too quick, collapsing them and a host of other delays that typified the day.

Between the scrimmaging there was some kicking for territory between Andy and Malone who seemed a little too hasty in kicking away at times which may have been a contributing factor to Tigers continuing to keep the upper hand when Vesty was taken down inches from the line but somehow managed to use the momentum to cross the line, unfortunately he was held up but the Bath defence could be breached and it would once more before the day was out.

To keep the forwards happy there was a whole bunch of scrums which ended in a penalty for pulling it down, whilst initially it looked like a tricky shot for Andy he delivered and the score was now 6-0 to the visitors. Clearly Bath had some work to do if they were to stay in the game. And work they did with Malone finally get a chance at goal and bringing the score to 3-6.

A few kicks and scrums resulted in another penalty for Leicester but unbeknown to some of the wingers Andy opted for a cross field kick which found the arms of the Bath men who returned it, which eventually led to a levelling of the scores at 6 all.

Despite their selfish attitude and hogging the ball throughout the afternoon the ball eventually found it’s way to the backs, despite the long time without getting a sniff of the ball they clearly remembered what to do and Leon ran in a nice long try diving over in the corner, making up for his last error Andy converted to bring it up to 13-6.

During one of his flashes of inspiration and a vain attempt to stop Bath crossing the line Lewis managed to find himself off side, cynical it may be and yes it led to him having a nice little rest with a yellow card but the upshot was that Bath came away with 3 points instead of a potential 7, going into half time the score was looking like it would be 13-9 to the Tigers but Andy once again widened the gap to 16-9, an acceptable margin.

Unlike the fans the team managed to dry out a little and warm up at half time, with Moody finally back on the pitch the afternoon once again was dominated by the forwards who seemed to relish the chance for some good old school rugby, pushing each other all round the pitch, to the neutral fan this might have been slightly dull but to Bath and Tiger fan alike on the terrace this provided some sterling entertainment.

There were also some substitutions with Matt coming on for Hipkiss who once again seemed to struggle with his passing skills, Matt proving once again why he is England captain and what an asset he is to the team, flicking the ball and changing direction of play with the merest hint of hesitation.

Eventually Andy had another chance to pop one over but this time conditions got the better of him and the three points went begging, a few more kicks, a couple of line outs and a few dozen scrums helped run the clock down further. Tiring somewhat in the war of attrition Bath then saw a trio of substitutions with Leicester old boy Peter Short being among the replacements.

With less than ten minutes left on the clock the score is brought up to 19-9 and with a prediction of 18-19 this author would have settled with that but no Bath manage to find a final score of the day with the score ending at 12-19 and Tigers gaining the upper hand going into the all important semi at the crisp bowl.

Despite the appalling conditions the players all seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves, ok so the sun wasn’t shining but the grin on Julian’s face more than made up for it, cabbage practically bounced off the pitch with a real tiggeresque spring in his step despite having to work hard for over 80 minutes. Whilst it’s a tough one to call and all players doing us proud my man of the match would have to be Wig.

Finally it was down the pub for some decent scrumpy and a chance to dry out whilst reflecting on an away win in white!

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