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Hawkins' Brace of Tries Not Enough to Beat Glaws
By Glen Leat
February 28 2009
Bath played their part in an exciting 36-27 loss to Glawster at Kingsholm. Despite a brace of tries from Rob Hawkins, the early loss of Michael Claassens, conceding three Glawster tries in five minutes and too many mistakes meant Bath would always struggle against the Premiership leaders.

In the opening two minutes there was a lot of excitement. Bath attacked the Glawster line from the off, then Michael Claassens took a head injury and had to leave the field because he didn't know where he was and then Bath were awarded a penalty after the home side came into a ruck from the side. Following the penalty lineout Bath scored their opening try following a catch and drive finished off by Rob Hawkins to silence the home crowd.

Glawster immediately hit back and were close to scoring a try only for Charlie Sharples to be stopped, but Bath were penalised giving Glawster an opportunity to repeat Bath's feat. However Azam threw a crooked lineout and lost his team their immediate response.

Glawster continued to press the Bath goal line and the visitors were forced to concede several penalties. The home side, without a recognised kicker in the starting fifteen instead opted for scrums. From one of these restarts the home crowd thought they'd crossed for a try only to be pulled back for two Glaws players clashing for accidental offside.

Further pressure on the Bath defence resulted in Alex Crockett being sin-binned for deliberate offside, preventing a scoring opportunity. As the offence was right under the posts Carlos Spencer seized the opportunity to open Glawster's account, making the score 3-7. Bath conceded another penalty after 20 minutes after collapsing a scrum but Spencer missed.

After 27 minutes Butch James had his first chance to kick a penalty and, despite it being on the edge of his range, the Bath star slotted home his kick to make the score 3-10. This score co-incided with the return of Bath skipper, Alex Crockett, from the sin-bin. Glawster hit back with several attacking waves against the Bath goal-line but the defence was too strong to allow the line to be broken. Unfortunately Daniel Browne was injured in this defensive struggle and had to be replaced by Jonny Fa'amatuainu, although Browne returned for the second half.

Almost immediately Glawster scored their first try after Spencer cleverly kicked a grubber through the Bath defensive line and Simpson-Daniel was able to touch down. Bath kept their lead after Spencer missed his conversion in front of the posts. However Glawster scored a second try in as many minutes when Simpson-Daniel set up Sharples to score. Spencer missed his conversion to keep the score at 13-10. Bath imploded after the restart when Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu was intercepted by Simpson-Daniel and Spencer's conversion took the score to 20-10. The Glawster flyer pulled a muscle in the process of scoring much to the relief of the Bath players, coaches and supporters until, that is, they realised Olly Barkley was the replacement and suddenly Glawster's kicking strength was improved.

Bath lifted their heads just a few minutes before half-time when Rob Hawkins stretched out to score Bath's second try after being set up by Matt Banahan to get within three points. The half was finished with Barkley stretching the Glawster lead to six points with a late penalty.

Bath started the second half by immediately attacking the Glawster goal line and were awarded a penalty, which also saw Anthony Allen binned for the same offence as Crockett. Butch James scored the penalty to make the score 23-20.

Glawster got their bonus point fourth try after it appeared Balshaw interfered with Banahan as he tried to defend an upfield grubber kick, allowing Rory Lawson to touch down. Barkley's excellent touchline conversion made the score 30-20. But within a few minutes Bath were back in the game with a third try, this time by Andrew Higgins. Butch James made the score 30-27 with another conversion.

Bath put themselves back under the cosh when they gifted another penalty in front of their posts after being penalised at a scrum which was awarded for a forward pass as they tried to run out of defence. A simple clearance kick would have been sufficient!

Just as the game entered the last quarter, referee Wayne Barnes suddenly had an attack of the cards, firstly binning Nick Wood for a high tackle on Joe Maddock and then showing Alex Crockett a red card after getting a second yellow for impeding Charlie Sharples when he could have scored. Barkley successfully kicked the ensuing penalty to make the score 36-27.

With ten minutes left Jonny Fa'amatuainu was held up on the Glawster goal-line and several other attempts were repelled by the Glawster defenders. Five minutes later Butch James had a shot at goal but his attempt went wide. At the death Butch James tried to gain a losing bonus point but missed two kicks and so the game ended up 36-27 with Bath gaining absolutely nothing.

Definitely a day to either be a Glawster fan or a neutral.

Gloucester

36 - 27
(23 - 17)

Bath
Tries:
Simpson-Daniel 2, Sharples, Lawson
 Tries:
Hawkins 2, Higgins
Penalties:
Spencer, Barkley 3
 Penalties:
James 2
Conversions:
Spencer, Barkley
 Conversions:
James 3

 

Gloucester Rugby: 15. Olly Morgan   14. Iain Balshaw   13. James Simpson-Daniel   12. Anthony Allen   11. Charlie Sharples   10. Carlos Spencer   9. Rory Lawson   1. Nick Wood   2. Olivier Azam   3. Greg Somerville   4. Adam Eustace   5. Alex Brown   6. Apolosi Satala   7. Andrew Hazell   8. Gareth Delve  
Replacements: 16. Andy Titterrell   17. Jack Forster   18. Danny Wright   19. Dan Williams   20. Ryan Lamb   21. Olly Barkley   22. Mark Foster  

 

Bath Rugby: 15. Joe Maddock   14. Andrew Higgins   13. Alex Crockett   12. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu   11. Matt Banahan   10. Butch James   9. Michael Claassens   1. David Barnes   2. Rob Hawkins   3. Duncan Bell   4. Justin Harrison   5. Peter Short   6. Andy Beattie   7. James Scaysbrook   8. Daniel Browne  
Replacements: 16. Mark Lilley   17. Aaron Jarvis   18. Stuart Hooper   19. Jonny Fa'amatuainu   20. Scott Bemand   21. Shaun Berne   22. Michael Stephenson  

Referee: Wayne Barnes

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