What a week of distraction leading up to the game to which all rugby lovers were looking forward. It wasn't just Bath and Toulouse fans eagerly awaiting this clash, neural observers and the rugby media were salivating at the prospect. If  the Matt Stevens affair wasn't enough to put a dampener on things someone upstairs decided it was time to have a bath, wash the car, and do the dishes all at the same time and pull the various plugs out at the same time. This weather was almost of Cork Constitution (for those of you who remember that far back), Cardiff and Glawster proportions and spoiled the spectacle.

So we knew from the start that Bath's preferred style of fast off-loading and running rugby was going to be out of the question so an alternative was required. However, judging by what I saw in this game, Bath appeared to take to the field assuming it was business as usual and only when they discovered they couldn't pass, run or play the ball through their hands they suddenly realised they had to find an alternative.

So what was that alternative? Kick away as much possession as possible and offer the talented Toulouse team as many opportunities as possible to counter attack, apparently! Thank goodness the visiting fly-half, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, was as useless a place kicker as I've seen at The Rec. His place kicking performance was as poor as that awful day when Butch couldn't have kicked the backside of a bloke stood in front of him and Elissalde ended up missing five out of six.

Surely the answer for Bath was an old-fashioned "up-the-jumper" style of rugby? Grind out the game by keeping it tight and progressing up the pitch, hoping the Toulouse defenders would fall foul of the referee and ping over a few penalties. Where were Gareth Chilcott and Richard Lee when they were needed? I'm sure Stuart Barnes, sitting in the press box, must have had a few flashbacks to his days when he had this option if the flash stuff wasn't working. Brilliant as he is, Butch James doesn't appear to know the notion of unattractive, safe play: instead he wants to win all his matches playing exhilarating rugby and this could be our undoing.

So what did Bath do? Hoof the ball skywards on numerous occasions, despite seeing that the Toulouse backs dropped the ball just once or twice in the whole 80 minutes. If Butch wasn't aimlessly hoofing the ball in to the air he was trying his deft touches with the outside of his boot and losing possession on every occasion.

Butch - you don't have to play every game with flair. We'll still cheer you if you play safety-first on occasion. Excepting last year's second string European trophy, we've had too many lean years and it's about winning first and entertaining second!

Toulouse soon worked out that Nick Abendanon dreaded any high ball heading his way so kept peppering the forlorn Bath full-back. It was painful to watch and how Bath kept the Frenchmen at bay I'll never know. Joe Maddock looked far more assured when taking similar bombs and the coaching staff will have to think seriously whether the Kiwi should move off the wing to given Abendanon a rest from the pressure of top class rugby. Throughout the game Toulouse looked comfortable when Bath put up high balls whereas whenever the compliment was returned one got the feeling the ball would hit a Bath shoulder or slip through the grip of the defender.

Bath scored their first and only points after two minutes. This followed a great start for the home side. From the kick-off the Toulouse receiver managed to drop the ball in to touch to give Bath an attacking lineout. After a couple of attacking phases Toulouse were caught off-side and Butch James made the score 3-0. Who would have thought at that time, as we clapped the team back to half-way, that we'd not see another home score?

An awful clash of heads, sounding like leather on willow, between Michael Lipman and Matt Banahan after 15 minutes left the Bath skipper flat out for some ten minutes as the medical staff gave treatment. This happened right in front of me and it was obvious from the leaden look of the player, as he lay still on the ground, that this was serious. An audible sigh of relief was heard as Bath's key flanker got to his feet to be helped from the field. Banahan walked off rubbing a sore head and appeared, from my perspective, to drift in and out of the game thereafter.

Elissalde scored his penalty after 22 minutes following a serious of Toulouse attacks on the Bath line. It was inevitable that a penalty would be given and at the time we were happy to give up three points assuming this wouldn't be the extent of the contest.

The ball then travelled backwards and forwards from team to team like tennis players, each seeking out errors from the other. A late charge down close to the Toulouse goal line gave the home crowd some excitement but 3-3 at the break was as good as it got.

The second half started with Bath attacking the Toulouse goal line with ferocity and steel and it seemed as though the French defenders would buckle in time. Then Butch had a momentary lapse of reason. Firstly he ran in to the base of a ruck on the goal line and dragged out a defender who appeared to take an age to role away from the feet of Michael Claassens: fair enough. But almost immediately he then ran through the ruck and charged a defender. The referee didn't like this a immediately relived the French defence with a penalty to Toulouse. Aggghhh!!

More tennis ensued and neither team looked like scoring a try.

The game ended with Bath playing the up-the-jumper stuff, winding the clock down to two seconds as they camped in the Toulouse twenty-two before giving away a penalty that closed things down.

Not exactly what you imagine top class European rugby to be all about is it but at least we're in the knock-out stages. Away to Leicester? Yeah, bring it on!!

Bath: Abendanon, Maddock, Crockett, Berne, Banahan, James, Claassens, Barnes, Mears, Bell, Harrison, Hooper, Beattie, Lipman, Browne.
Replacements: Flatman for Barnes (40), Dixon for Mears (68), Scaysbrook for Lipman (17), Faamatuainu for Browne (72).

Not Used: Jarvis, Bemand, Hape.

Toulouse: Poitrenaud, Medard, Fritz, Jauzion, Heymans, Elissalde, Kelleher, Human, Servat, Lecouls, Pelous, Albacete, Bouihlou, Dustautoir, Sowerby.
Replacements: Clerc for Poitrenaud (73), Ahotaeiloa for Fritz (39), Du Toit for Elissalde (63), Vernet Basualdo for Servat (66), Perugini for Lecouls (71), Lamboley for Pelous (71), Nyanga for Bouihlou (53).

Att: 10,600

Ref: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

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