What is it about playing Wasps? I know what I'll get, a game dominated by constant borderline offside defending and regular stoppages to break up any flow the game might create, but still I walk away from the ground wholly frustrated. I should know by now that their coach, Shaun Edwards, is the master at creating every advantage he can to give his side a half-chance of snatching victory. 

Mind you it doesn't help when the referee decides to have an off night and from my position on the sidelines Rob Debney definitely struggled in this game. It's currently 23:39 so I've not had an opportunity to consult the law book about whether it is right that an opposing player should be allowed to charge at a penalty kick, as occurred when Butch slotted home his final kick after 76 minutes, without being penalised. My initial reaction at the game was Bath should have been awarded another penalty on half-way. No doubt, at a more appropriate time, an expert will put me right on this (perhaps Clive Norling 1 can help out).

The first half was a scrappy affair with neither side looking capable of grabbing the game by the scruff and shaking out sufficient points to give them comfort. Bath's opening points came from a Butch James penalty after Wasps were penalised at a scrum. The visitors suffered all night in this particular set play with Bath dominating almost every scrum. Had we had a more experienced No 8 I'm certain we would have taken even more from this advantage. Excellent player that he is in the loose and superbly creative with ball in hand, Jonny Fa'amatuainu isn't an "old fashioned" controlling No 8 when driving his pack forward and, with the loss of Daniel Browne, this could cause problems against a top quality pack.

Three minutes later Cipriani levelled the scores after Bath were penalised for entering their own ruck from the side. Bath's first real attacking position occurred after 13 minutes when Jonny Fa'amatuainu fed Bemand from a scrum deep in Bath's half and the scrum-half passed to Butch James who looped the ball over the entire backline to set up Joe Maddock for a run at the Wasps defence. The Bath ace chipped his defender and ran deep in to the Wasps twenty-two before being smothered by covering defenders. An excellent move that, had it finished with a score, would have been a contender for try of the season.

With nine minutes left in the first half Rikki Flutey cut a super line through the Bath defence to score the opening try of the match. Whenever this England(sic) player got the ball in space he looked dangerous. Cipriani missed an easy conversion but then scored a great penalty a few minutes later. Butch James scored another penalty for Bath and Cipriani missed his penalty attempt to make the score 9-11 at half time.

The second half started with Bath trying to make things happen but at times they tried just too hard. The ball flew out of the scrum in to no-man's land on two or three occasions because of poor passes from Fa'amatuainu and Bemand and each time potential attacking positions were lost as Bath had to scramble to cover their errors and not give away possession or territory.

Bath was awarded a penalty after 47 minutes but James missed his only kick of the game. Interestingly, from where I was sitting, it looked as though the ball had gone straight threw the centre of the posts. Clearly an optical illusion on my part! Two minutes later young Danny also missed another penalty attempt.

Bath then secured another penalty on half-way and Butch kicked beautifully into the corner. From the line-out Bath drove forward but were unable to take advantage of a great position and in the melee under the Wasps' posts Michael Lipman suffered a serious injury. The medics (rightly) took over 10 minutes to ensure the Bath skipper could be safely carried from the field. We all hope our skipper isn't seriously hurt, makes a full recovery and returns as soon as possible.

Four minutes after Lipman left the field Jonny Fa'amatuainu scored Bath's only try of the match after he picked up the ball at the back of an attacking scrum close to the Wasps line, sneaking down the blind side to score. The Rec erupted with raw emotion as finally they could see their team beating the Londoners. A conversion and two penalties for Butch against one for Jeremy Staunton saw Bath close out the game and settle in to joint top spot.

This was tough and at times an ugly game but we came away with a win. However I have no doubt the coaches will be keen to see improvements on Saturday if we are to beat the high flying (and genuine Londoners) Harlequins who murdered Worcester tonight.

Referee: Rob Debney

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