Unfit

At least Bath were one of the most successful teams of the league’s amateur era, they have fallen somewhat short of their own high standards in the last ten years, winning only a single trophy since the game went professional, but they can always be counted on to provide stiff opposition.

 

Our hosts are hit badly by international call-ups on Saturday, with Matt Stevens, Steve Borthwick, Danny Grewcock and Lee Mears all with England and Gareth Delve and possibly Andy Williams expected to be in the Wales squad.  Michael Lipman and Duncan Bell might also have been away with the A squad, and Olly Barkley would probably have been with England had he been fit.

 

However, other senior internationals Matt Perry (England’s most-capped 15), Michael Stephenson (if fit) and David Bory will provide quality in the backs, and David Flatman and beastly South African hooker Pieter Dixon provide good front row cover.

Bath have built their squad around a group of exciting youngsters, apart with the aforementioned Mears, Stevens, Barkley and Delve, and we may have to contend with the pacy Alex Crockett, Tom Cheeseman, Spencer Davey and James Scaysbrook at the Rec.

 

Our other main connection in Bath along with Stephenson, prop David Barnes will not be playing on Saturday after suffering an Achilles injury.  Bath’s other main injury is to Eliota Fuimaono, a Samoan centre.

 

Positive squad news at Bath comes from a glut of new contracts signed recently, much like ours.  Crockett, Rob Fidler, Grewcock, Zak Feau’nati and youngsters Aaron Jarvis and Mike Myerscough have all recently committed their futures to the club.

 

Bath have had a mixed season to date, doing well in the Cups but languishing in 10^th place in the Premiership.  Success in the Heineken Cup against Bourgoin, Leinster and Glasgow has set up a quarter-final against Leicester in the Walkers Stadium in April, whilst the south-westerners won their Powergen Cup group before narrowly losing the semi-final against Llanelli in Cardiff on Saturday 26-27, Bath’s first ever defeat at that stage of the competition.

 

Bath won their last Premiership match however, 15-18 at Gloucester and therefore completing a trio of victories over their bitter rivals in 2005/06.  Tries by Lee Mears and Andy Beattie and a Chris Malone drop goal secured the victory for Bath who had Stevo at full back at Kingsholm.

 

Gloucester are one of only two sides to lose at the Rec in the league this year, with Saracens having drawn and Northampton, Leeds, Sale and London Irish (as well as Leinster) coming away with victories.  The last match in Bath was v Irish on February 18^th, the visitors winning 28-33.

 

That is of course not too different to the result the last time we played at Bath, winning 18-33 and securing a try bonus point into the deal on Matt Burke’s debut last September, although the match will more likely be remembered for its ugly side with Phil Dowson sent off late on for a bit of violence, after Tom May and Luke Gross had already been sin-binned.

 

The teams that afternoon:

Bath: J Maddock, A Crockett (R Fleck, 60), S Davey, M Tindall, B Daniel 2T, C Malone 1P, M Wood (N Walshe, 73), D Barnes, J Humphreys © (L Mears, 46), D Bell (M Stevens, 24), S Borthwick 1T, D Grrewcock, A Beattie, M Lipman (J Scaysbrook, 55), Z Feau’nati (G Delve, 73).

Newcastle: J Shaw (M Burke, 67), T May 2T (YC), J Noon, M Stephenson 1T, J Wilkinson © 2C 1P 2DG, H Charlton (J Grindal, 67), I Peel © (M Ward, 31), A Long (M Thompson, 55), M Hurter (I Peel, 54), L Gross (YC) (C Hamilton, 60), S Grimes, M McCarthy 1T (S Sititi, 60), C Charvis, P Dowson (RC).

 

Our record at Bath is rather poor, with only two wins and one of them coming in our Championship season:

13/11/93       Courage League Division 1    L3-46

23/8/97         Allied Dunbar Premiership 1   W20-13

16/1/99         Allied Dunbar Premiership 1   L11-16

13/11/99       Allied Dunbar Premiership 1   L12-45

16/9/00         Zurich Premiership              L12-19

28/4/01         Zurich Championship QF       L9-18

25/11/01       Zurich Premiership              L9-24

10/5/03         Zurich Premiership              L12-24

20/12/03       Zurich Premiership              L10-20

11/9/04         Zurich Premiership              W33-18

 

We have also already won our statutory three away matches so a win may not be in the stars on Saturday, but with Bath depleted and our boys in strong form after the defeat of Leicester at KP, a repeat of our two wins at the Rec is not impossible.

 

Our team, robbed of Toby Flood, Jamie Noon, Colin Charvis, Mat Tait and David Wilson to international calls, shows Tom May returning to centre for only the fourth time in a competitive game since the back end of 2002, with Ollie Phillips on the left wing.  Matthew Burke continues to captain the team, and Joe Shaw provides fly-half cover on the bench.

 

15 Matthew Burke (captain)
14 Anthony Elliott
13 Tom May
12 Mark Mayerhofler
11 Ollie Phillips
10 Dave Walder
9 James Grindal

1 Micky Ward
2 Andy Long
3 Robbie Morris
4 Andy Perry
5 Geoff Parling
6 Owen Finegan
7 Ben Woods
8 Andy Buist

Replacements:

Jonny Williams
Matt Thompson
Stuart Grimes
Mike McCarthy
Luke Gross or Cory Harris
Hall Charlton
Joe Shaw

 

The Bath team is also hit, losing Michaels Lipman and Stephenson in addition to their internationals:-

 

15 Matt Perry
14 Andy Higgins
13 Alex Crockett
12 Joe Maddock
11 Salesi Finau
10 Chris Malone
9 Nick Walshe
1 David Flatman
2 Pieter Dixon
3 Duncan Bell
4 James Hudson
5 Peter Short
6 Andy Beattie
7 James Scaysbrook
8 Zak Feaunati (captain)

16 Rob Hawkins
17 Christian Loader
18 Gareth Delve
19 Rob Fidler
20 Andy Williams
21 Andy Dunne
22 Lee Best

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