What can I say? Bath were dire today. It wasn't that they didn't try but they looked exactly like you would expect of a team trying to play three tough games in eight days. Playing Sale, Wasps and Quins in such a short period was clearly too much and all the pre-match predictions of what Premiership points we would gain from these matches has clearly fallen in the glass half empty camp.

The sooner we get Olly Barkley back at the Rec to take on the kicking role the better as we are just asking too much of Butch James. Today our star No 10 missed three very kickable penalties and his frustration with himself was clear for all to see. We need him to be focusing on managing the game and relieving him of the kicking duties will be the main bonus of securing Barkley.

However the issue of Barkley is for next season, we still have this season to worry about and there is no doubt in my mind that we'll be travelling to Leicester next week as rank outsiders for progression in the Heineken Cup. The loss of Claassens has made a big impact on our ability to play the fast paced game we've enjoyed so much (on and off the pitch) this season. However I'm not going to criticise Scott Bemand because he's played his heart out for our team in recent weeks.

Harlequins played a clever game today, not unlike Wasps but better, as they defended as well as I've seen any team defend this season. Quins weren't guilty of standing constantly offside, like their London(sic) colleagues, but they were masters at slowing Bath ball and their prone bodies at rucks seemed invisible to Mr Pearson. We can shout at and complaint about referees all we like but the teams we are playing have a streetwise edge that perhaps we lack at times. Too often we're still trying to play beautiful rugby when a bit of ugly stuff is preferred.

Walking in to a lovely sunny Rec I said to my lad, "great weather for Bath to turn it on": Doh! These were conditions set for a great game of fast running rugby. Quick hands, quick feet with Harlequins chasing shadows. But it didn't happen. Partly due to Harlequins defending brilliantly and partly due to the Bath players failing to measure up to the hype that has surrounded them all season. "Want to see exciting rugby, go to Bath" they've been saying in the press. "Want to see a team run out of gas, go to Bath" they could be saying over the next couple of weeks.

Even when Quins were reduced to 14 men, after Mike Ross was sin binned for some scrummaging malarkey, Bath couldn't take advantage. I lost count of the number of times they were camped on the Quins' goal line only to come away empty handed, either by making errors or conceding possession. After totally dominating the Wasps pack on Wednesday it was disappointing to see the Bath eight capitulate to Quins today. As many have been saying in recent months, you notice David Flatman when he's not playing an this was in evidence today. I also repeat what I said after the Wasps match, Jonny F is not a Premiership No 8 and the loss of Daniel Browne is hurting our forward play.

The more I see of him each week the more I'm convinced that Matt Banahan shouldn't be a starter on the wing. His hands are suspect, he struggles with high balls and he's no longer breaking through defences. As you expect to see with first season phenomenons, he's been sussed by opposing coaches and if fit, I'd start with Andrew Higgins next week. It was interesting to see that it was Crockett and not Hape who was replaced by Shaun Berne late in the game and this may indicate that the RL convert is going to be the preferred starter in the longer term (or did Crockett get a knock?).

You may have noticed that I've deliberately refrained from describing the match in detail. Quins won, Bath lost: enough said!

Referee: Dave Pearson

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