By Nicola Curtis
November 1 2008

On a freezing cold night in Cardiff, I found myself in a rather surreal situation- dressed in my Halloween costume ready to go out after the match (I live in Cardiff now- it’s a long story but it means that I was pretty jolly keen to win the game - I wouldn’t be able to cope with the comments on Monday morning). The game was promisingly set up- Cardiff had won both previous matches and if they won, they were guaranteed to move on to the semi-final stage of the EDF cup. Bath welcomed back Danny Grewcock and Andy Beattie, both after long injury periods. In turn, players such as Michael Claassens, Nick Abendanon and Matt Banahan have been lost to injury, so weren't forced to face a Cardiff Blues crowd that had in recent weeks twice scalped English teams, and would no doubt like to make it three times in a row.

However it was clear that Bath were not going to allow Cardiff to dominate, and the team from the West Country started the brightest. Indeed throughout the match (I'm a budding journalist now, so I'll try to be unbiased) it seemed as if Bath had all the chances, but utterly failed to use them to their advantage.

Bath scored their first points, through a penalty kick from Jack Cuthbert. As so often happens when a team scores, Bath let their concentration lapse, and Cardiff scored a try, through Ma'ama Molitika. Blair- such a consummate kicker and impressed me all evening, slotted the conversion over. Another soon followed, leaving the score at 3-10. Joe Maddock was the best back this evening, and probably the best Bath player and he lead some great waves of attack. After Duncan Bell was judged as going in from the side (and he is hard to miss) Blair kicked another penalty.

It's been pretty cold and wet here in Cardiff, and perhaps this could be blamed for the constant slipping from Bath players, who were always losing their balance when on the attack. After a Cuthbert missed penalty, Bath pounded Cardiff's try line with no avail, leaving me very grumpy at half time. This was added to by Nigel Owen's suspect refereeing (I hate blaming the ref, but sometimes there is cause) as the Welsh referee kept missing some of the most blatant high tackles imaginable. If I saw one that he let go, I must have seen 10. However, Bath needed to do the hard work necessary to win a game of rugby, and I wrote on my notepad "slow, sluggish" which I  think sums up some of the play on display.

A Bath attack was stopped by Tom Shanklin, who, after killing the ball, was yellow carded. The subsequent Bath penalty was kicked by Joe Maddock as Shaun Berne was limping and appeared to be in some discomfort, and Jack Cuthbert had been earlier substituted, after a knock to his head. Another Cardiff penalty immediately afterwards cut through any advantage gained through Bath's kick.  Next , Jonny Fantastic, who constantly makes me have to re-evaluate my stance as Danny Grewcock being my favourite Bath player, made a great break that resulted in Joe Maddock being hauled down by the neck on the try line, so a penalty try was awarded. Maddock missed the conversion.

The next score was a Cardiff try that was set up through a scrum went straight to the second row- I thought Ref's were supposed to be hot on this, this year? Former Bath prop Taufa'ao Filise scored this try. The conversion was missed, and before I had time to hang my head too much, the Cardiff defence broke apart to let Andy Higgins through for Bath's second try. The conversion was successful, but Ben Blair put the result beyond doubt when Cardiff were awarded a very jammy penalty in the last few minutes. The final score was 18-24.

Monday morning won't be fun- I'll no doubt be constantly reminded of tonight's result. But it is just (whisper it) the EDF cup, and frankly I have more important things to worry about, as we now move back to the Premiership, where we will have to improve on tonight's performance if we are to hang on to that top spot.

Cardiff Blues	24 - 18 (13 - 3)	Bath
Tries: Molitika, Filise		Tries: penalty, Higgins
Penalties: Blair 4		Penalties: Cuthbert, Maddock
Conversions: Blair		Conversions: Berne

 

Cardiff Blues: 15. Ben Blair   14. Richard Mustoe   13. Jamie Robinson   12. Tom Shanklin   11. Tom James   10. Nick Robinson   9. Jason Spice   1. John Yapp   2. Gareth Williams   3. Taufa'ao Filise   4. Deiniol Jones   5. Paul Tito   6. Ma'ama Molitika   7. Robin Sowden-Taylor   8. Mark Lewis   Replacements: 16. Gary Powell   17. Ross Johnson   18. Scott Morgan   19. Martyn Williams   20. Richie Rees   21. Ceri Sweeney   22. Gareth Thomas

Bath Rugby: 15. Jack Cuthbert   14. Joe Maddock   13. Alex Crockett   12. Shontayne Hape   11. Andrew Higgins   10. Shaun Berne   9. Scott Bemand   1. David Flatman   2. Pieter Dixon   3. Duncan Bell   4. Peter Short   5. Danny Grewcock   6. Andy Beattie   7. James Scaysbrook   8. Daniel Browne   Replacements: 16. Rob Hawkins   17. Aaron Jarvis   18. Nathan Catt   19. Stuart Hooper   20. Jonny Fa'amatuainu   21. Mike Baxter   22. Tom Cheeseman

 

Referee: Nigel Owens

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	T	C	D	P	F	A	TB	LB	Pts
1	Cardiff Blues	3	3	0	0	6	4	0	9	65	44	0	0	12
2	Leicester Tigers	3	2	0	1	4	4	1	9	58	58	0	0	8
3	Bath Rugby	3	1	0	2	7	5	0	4	57	64	0	2	6
4	Sale Sharks	3	0	0	3	5	3	0	9	58	72	0	2	2