Regardless of the score, the Powergen Cup semi-final was a great day out: meeting old friends, and some new ones, two games for the price of one and experiencing a game of rugby indoors. Not since the days of playing Subbuteo Rugby in Chris Hewett's dad's house almost 40 years ago have I experienced indoor rugby. It is a slightly surreal experience when one walks in to the Millennium Stadium seeing for the first time it's closed roof as the lack of natural light creates a hazy atmosphere. Gone is the crispness of natural sunlight to be replaced by the unnatural underground world often portrayed in science fiction films. 

Bath's problem today appeared to hinge on not knowing what game to play at the right time. Towards the start of the match we tried to run from defence when a hoof upfield was all that was required and in the final 60 seconds the pack decided that it was time to play in memory of John Connolly as they wound the clock down with continuous ruck and drives to nowhere. Finally as the clock struck 80 minutes Nick Walshe flashed the ball to Malone on half-way giving him a split second to win the game with a somewhat overly optimistic drop goal attempt.

Bath got off to a shaky start, losing their first attack on turnover and then their first lineout but they soon regained their composure and started to create platforms from which to build attacks. This was always going to be a hard physical match, which is why we enjoy games against Welsh teams so much, and Joe Maddock was welcomed to the Rag Doll's tea-party very early on after taking a crunching hit from Alix Popham just as it looked as though the Llanelli defence was going to open up for him.

Chris Malone opened the scoring with a penalty after 11 minutes but Bath immediately, and unnecessarily, put themselves under pressure by running the ball in front of their posts. Borthwick, acting as scrum-half because Walshe got himself dragged in to a ruck, sent a reasonable pass to Malone who fed Maddock and then on to Lipman who gave a hospital pass to Perry who passed forward to Finau who couldn't take the ball in any case. A catalogue of blunders raising some serious questions. 

Firstly, why was Borthwick at scrum-half? Why didn't Malone kick to touch to allow Bath to regroup? Why didn't Maddock kick up-field? Why didn't Lipman take the tackle and set up another ruck? Why didn't Perry fly-hack the hospital pass from Lipman as Finau was never going to get clean ball? So many "why's" one could be forgiven for thinking the late Malcolm Muggeridge was on hand in the commentary box! Brian Ashton may be asking his charges to play more openly but there is a time and place for free flowing rugby and this wasn't it!

The Scarlets scored through Craig Dunlea under the posts from the ensuing scrum to really punish Bath for their sheer stupidity moments earlier. I held my head in my hands in total disbelief at this pathetic attempt to clear our lines and we got what we deserved. This isn't pretty-boy Sevens rugby, this is top level hard-nosed Championship rugby, playing for the right to face the current enemy (Wasps) at Twickenham!

Bath hit straight back with another Malone penalty after Michael Lipman broke away from a scrum and encouraged the defenders to go over the top in an effort to stop him. The Scarlets then missed two very kickable penalties before a piece of Alex Crockett magic gave the lead back to Bath on 28 minutes. A Bath-winning scrum on the right saw the backs run at Llanelli at pace and Crockett feed Finau before moving back inside to take the return pass. With the deftness of Olly Barkley, Crockett chipped his defender, chased the ball and touched down for the try of the match and the Bath supporters went wild. Five minutes later Malone extended Bath's lead to 16-7 and this is how it stayed until half-time.

Within a few moments of the restart Llanelli reduced the deficit through a Hercus penalty but moments later Joe Maddock struck with Bath's second try and we were buzzing. But try as they might, Bath couldn't break the spirit of the Scarlets' players and within two minutes they were back in contention with a try of their own following a couple of penalties because Bath couldn't persuade the referee they weren't illegally scrummaging.

Then came a moment in the match that could be considered a match-turner when Andrew Higgins was sin-binned for picking up the ball in an offside position.

Personally I have no problem with the Higgins' binning. He made a brilliant tackle and knocked the ball out of the attacker's hands in doing so. However on getting up he walked out the front of the ruck and picked up the ball, clearly offside. Regardless of any mitigation Higgins may claim, he was offside in an attacking position for the Scarlets and therefore gave the referee little choice. Unfortunately Bath's 14 defenders couldn't keep out Mark Jones as he dived in under the posts minutes later for his team's third try. Another excellent Malone penalty from 50 metres three minutes later saw Bath regain the lead 26-23. 

With 14 minutes remaining in the game the Scarlets introduced their massive prop Martyn Madden, a man-mountain who looks as though he does his weight training down at the local pie shop rather than the Llanelli gym!

The winning points were gained by Mike Hercus on 71 minutes after Lee Mears was penalised for handling in a ruck and after more nip and tuck rugby it came down to Bath requiring a moment of magic or luck as the clock counted down to zero. But it wasn't to be and the hordes of blue, black and white supporters trudged dejectedly from the stadium disappointed once again that their team had fallen at the critical moment.

Without doubt this was a game we could and should have won. However fair play to the Llanelli boys, they played with passion and fire and a never-say-die attitude so important in Cup games - a bit like we used to when we were winners!

Referee: M Changleng (Gala)

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