Only four players started the game compared to last week. Surely if Steve Meehan wants to operate a squad rotation then he picks more appropriate matches and doesn't make such wholesale changes.
I'm no coach but I'd have picked the weaker team at home to Leeds and the stronger one away to Wasps. Also to pick Jonny F at No 8 against Dallaglio when an old war horse like Zak was on the bench is ludicrous to my thinking. The young lad was wholly overawed by the clever Wasps' skipper and didn't dear old Bruno take advantage: I thought he had a classic game.
Despite a late rally by Bath, the game was effectively lost by half-time with Wasps enjoying a 20-0 lead. Even having a greater share of possession in the first half, the away team never looked comfortable against the Wasps defence and it was some fifteen minutes before Bath got inside the home twenty-two and then only following a hoof upfield by stand-in stand-off Shaun Berne.

Bath seemed to revert to last season's tactics with a slow bish,bash,bosh approach to attacking. Where was the fast and wide play we need against teams like Wasps? I'll tell you where, sat in the stands on seats marked "reserved for talented South African half-backs". If you didn't see the game and want to know how slow Nick Walshe was at each breakdown: well I made a cup of coffee whilst he was trying to get the ball our from one ruck!
What is it about Walshe? When he comes on for Claassens with 10 minutes to go he carries on the pace set by the South African but when he has to set the tempo of a game it is somewhere between slow and dead slow.
I don't know how many times I've used the phrase, "Bath play better at pace" over recent seasons and it was evident to everyone who knows what we can do that our approach to this game was plain wrong.
Sky TV must have been pretty hacked off after expecting to see a spectacle featuring the most exciting team in the Premiership so far this year. Not the best way of ensuring we get good coverage in the future so those supporters who can't get to games can still follow the Blue, Black and White.
It didn't help Bath's cause that a penalty was awarded to Wasps after 16 seconds, a try followed a few minutes later, Cheeseman was injured after eight minutes, that Olly Barkley didn't pass to Stephenson when a late try was odds on in favour of Bath and Danny Grewcock was ridiculously sin-binned for accidentally standing on a player in a ruck. It wasn't a penalty let alone a carding offence. But let's not kid ourselves that anything conspired against this result other than poor team selection, awful play and opponents who knew how to neutralise our attacking options(sic). Fair play to Wasps, they bossed just about every area of the game and we looked like also-rans.

After brilliant starts in previous matches it was somewhat of a surprise to find ourselves 10-0 down after four minutes following Cipriani's penalty and a conversion to support Rob Webber's try. The try followed a Bath error after stealing a Wasps' scrum when there was no scrum half at the breakdown and Wasps were able to grab an attacking ball Bath should have cleared very easily.
Bath secured two penalties within the Wasps' twenty-two after nineteen minutes and on both occasions opted for an attacking lineout. With the Premiership's top kicker on the field it would have made more sense to get points on the board and this could have made a psychological difference later in the game.
Five minutes later Paul Sackey scored the first of his two tries when Riki Flutey set up the England winger in the corner after he skinned Barkley. Cipriani converted to take the score to 17-0 and Bath were struggling. Grewcock was binned five minutes before half-time and Cipriani slotted home a penalty to make the score 20-0 at the break.
Bath finally troubled the scorer with a Barkley penalty after 46 minutes but Paul Sackey broke West Country hearts as he dived on the ball in the Bath in-goal area after Nick Abendanon had missed the initial touchdown.
Bath tried as hard as they could, with Joe Maddock making two excellent runs through midfield to set up scoring opportunities but again a lack of pace meant the visitors couldn't take advantage of their attacking positions. It was therefore appropriate that Maddock scored Bath's only try ten minutes before the end when (ironically) Nick Walshe unleashed him with a quick pass.
Olly Barkley thought he had scored a further try in the final five minutes following a solo run from half-way but he knocked on as he dived across the try-line with Sackey clinging on to his back. That was the final opportunity and the score ended deservedly at 25-10 to the home side.
I know comments will be made about the Premiership being a marathon and not a sprint and with the format not requiring teams to come top of the league, however on this occasion I think Steve Meehan got his selection and tactics wrong and I hope we don't pay dearly for this later in the season.
I currently feel as I did last season after most games and this makes me very unhappy.
| Wasps (20) 25 Tries: Webber, Sackey 2 Cons: Cipriani 2 Pens: Cipriani 2 Bath (0) 10 |
Referee: Rob Debney |
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