After a very disappointing run during the international period, which saw Bath draw one and lose three, acting head coach Michael Foley must have been desperate to break the losing spell with a win against old foes Glawster and take his team to Cardiff in March for the semi-finals. Foley looked very nervous throughout the game yet this was the best performance from a Bath team in quite some time. The backs looked sharp and fit, playing at pace, off-loading the ball before getting clobbered and on several occasions one could have criticised the forwards for slowing down play when the backs were raring to go.

But let's not start having a pop at the forwards just because the backs belatedly decided to turn up for a match, without them we'd be in a worse position than we are in the league and certainly not on our way to Cardiff for the semi-finals! If the backs use this match as a platform on which to build their new style under Brian Ashton the forwards will have to do likewise, realising that no longer do they have to focus solely on ten-man rugby and quicker ball from rucks is essential!

We've been calling for Bath to play at pace for weeks/months/years and in this game they did just this and looked dangerous. Many of us have also suggested that the way to beat a line of defenders standing flat across the pitch is to chip over the top and they did it twice and scored twice.

It was with great relief to many of us that Bath welcomed back England stars Olly Barkley, Lee Mears, Matt Stevens and Steve Borthwick to the team. Frikkie Welsh, Michael Lipman, Matt Perry and Nick Walshe also returned with Andy Beattie and Lee Best missing out through injury. What a game Matt Perry had, didn't he go in where it hurts, particularly around the high balls. Most players coming back from long-term injuries are a bit tentative: not our Pezza. Top man!! What is it they say about form being temporary but class permanent?

Glawster scored first through a Mercier penalty, after Bath had attacked their opponents' line in the opening minutes, when Malone fell on the ball following a Peter Richards hack forward but "Whistlehappy" Whitehouse was on the spot in moments to penalise the home side. Fortunately the Glawster players felt this was an unfair call and so got themselves penalised from the restart to make the game even after five minutes.

Parity was maintained for the next ten minutes with Bath destroying the Glawster lineout and the Glawster pack constantly pressurising the Bath scrums and rucks. Both sets of half-backs were playing under immense pressure from the opposing flankers and consequently making mistakes. However despite these errors, Bath ran the ball far more than we've seen in past weeks and this kept the visitors on the back foot. In particular Crockett and Stevens charged forward with support from Welsh and Maddock. For the second week running Joe Maddock was conspicuous by his presence all over the pitch, searching for the ball, hunting possession like it was "big game". He may not be the biggest but he's certainly one of the pluckiest players around at present. Frikkie also saw a lot of ball and ran through players on numerous occasions - blimey that bloke is hard!

Eventually the pressure of the Bath forwards and movement of the backs paid off as Olly Barkley latched on to a lovely little chip over the Glawster defence by Chris Malone to score the opening try. This play completely wrong-footed the defence and the pace of Barkley indicated why inside centre may be his preferred position. Wasn't this the tactic we needed against Leeds last week?

Six minutes later and Bath again used the chip and chase ploy as they scored their second try. Nick Walshe grabbed the ball from the base of a ruck on the edge of the Glawster twenty-two and chipped it forward for Maddock who, like Barkley before him, outpaced the defenders. With the score at 15-3 Bath were well and truly in the driving seat. Both sides traded penalties to take the score to 18-9 at half time.

Olly Barkley failed to take his place on the pitch for the second have, giving Ryan Davis another opportunity to show off his skills, but neither side was able to take control of play throughout the second forty minutes and it was no surprise that no more tries were scored. A final score of 21-12 was about right and the Bath players, coaches and supporters will be pleased with the performance and result. This was a game where the visitors must have fancied grabbing a rare victory at the Rec but, as usually happens, they failed.

So what about the return of Mike Tindall? Not missed is my opinion. Alex Crockett looked much more comfortable on the shoulder of Olly Barkley even though he managed to get himself binned for killing play and there was certainly better balance throughout the team.

Well done boys that was much more enjoyable to watch.

Right, now we are in to a proper Cup format.

Referee: Nigel Whitehouse

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Bath Poll