Bath fail to plug the gap even at a lower level

By tigerstart
February 2 2003

A group of hardy souls gathered at Welford road for this U21 clash with our traditional rivals but phones all over the Crumbie terrace kept us in touch with the first team down at Bath Tigers U21s V Bath U21s

The Tigers Cubs felt the power of the enthusiasm from the terraces as U21-virgin Dippy (Zara) vocally came to her first game at Welford Road. I won't say that she is loud, but I am sure that they could hear her at The Walkers Bowl. <

Action from the second half

It was certainly a Danny Hipkiss show, as the Leicester centre displayed a clean pair of heels in an enthralling and combative game,his team winning 20-16. The U21s maintained their exemplary record and still head their Championship League, clearly streets ahead of the closest competition. The main team even added to the luxury of getting one over our closest rivals, as Murphy secured a try late in the game to secure a tight, but ever so pleasing, 15-8 victory at Bath.

Danny Hipkiss scores the opening try

Not surprisingly there was a lot of flannel from the Bath bench, who were fighting hard from the kick-off. At one point the Bath bench iincorrectly told the referee that a Leicester drop out had gone straight out. Tigers missed an early opportunity to pop a penalty over. Bath were driving a maul, cleverly, and recycling possession but Tigers held firm. An impressive performance was given by Tigers scrum-half Rolt who put in a commanding performance, dictating the forwards and getting out quick ball. Rolt slapped on the thighs on the forwards as he made them heave down the field, following a lineout. In the 13th minute, Bath were awarded a penalty just inside Tigers 22 but they slotted it wide.

The ref seemed to be saying "I didn't have this trouble when I reffed that nice Mr Cockerill

The post-match interview was conducted around the ABC bar. U21s coach Dust Hare explained that “We were a bit disappointing, as we had not played together as a side since 7th December.” Despite a 20-16 win, Hare felt that “We defended very well and we got the points to win the game. However, Bath were more hungry out on the pitch”.

Lock Lee “hello girls” Morley put his thoughts forward to TT: “Credit to the team, we did enough to win, as we had a winning edge but we have had few training sessions together”.

Razcal put his thoughts forward that “the Bath players would be playing first team rugby next year at grounds like Otley and Orrell (shouted out form the terraces, just some friendly banter in typically cool raz-style).

The opposition winger, Victor Oniyidi-Frampton, commented that: “it was a very competitive and physical game, which was my first for a long time. We felt they could take Tigers out in the second half. Tigers had a very good back row, which took us out”. The most intriguing take on the day was Victor’s end line: “Always a good game, as there’s lots of history”.

First teamer Harry “Hazza”`Ellis put his thoughts forward to an intrigued message board possie, up-dating us on his injury, as he has just had a knee operation, as his knee cap had shifted around the other side. “The U21s grinded out a hard fought, physical game. Hipkiss played a very good game (as the jury panel decided) and Taylor controlled the game well. Bath came back with a very lucky try but the U21s won”.

The rising superiority of the U21s has been maintained and their popularity continues to soar, especially in the eyes of Hazza. Many fans, who can’t afford to go and see the away team, who according the Hazza are “the true fans” continue to attend and enjoy the un-precdented victorius U21s.

Scoring sequence: 17 mins Bath pen scored by Kingdom 0-3 19 mins Tigers try by Hipkiss and con by Taylor 7-3 36 mins Tigers try by Holford and con by Taylor 14-3 44 mins Bath pen by Kingdom 14-6 49 mins Tigers pen by Taylor 17-6 63 mins Bath try by Pendlebury 17-11 79 mins Tigers pen by Myring 20-11 83 mins Bath try by Johnson 20-16

Date: Saturday 1st February 2003 Time: 2.30pm k/o Weather: Sunny, blue sky but a freezing cold air (just ask TT as her hands typing were red raw and Zara couldn’t keep still on the terraces) Crowd: 250 brave souls (who cheered like crazy when the first team score was announced over the tannoy)

Ref: Don Hale (Mr. Trigger happy with the whistle)

Man-of-the-match: Danny “posh kid” Hipkiss as judged by the match reporting team

Sin-bin: 43 mins Luke Abraham

Match reporting team: TT, Razcal, Inkworm, Zara, Pinky and Pinky’s dad

Tigers team: 15 Luke Sayer 14 Yomi Akinyemi 13 Steve Glitherow 12 Danny “posh kid” Hipkiss 11 John Holtby 10 Tim Taylor 9 Will Rolt 1 Peter Cook 2 James Buckland 3 Michael Holford (CAPT) 4 Tom Ryder 5 Lee “hello girls” Morley 6 Sam Raven 7 Ben Gerry 8 Luke Abraham Reps: Luke Myring (67 mins on for 10 Taylor), Adam Billig, David Jackson (75 mins on for 3 Buckland), Alex Loney (75 mins on for 9 Rolt), Matt Hampson (58 mins on for 4 Ryder), Rob Cooke (50 mins on for 3 Holford), Peter Clarke (67 mins on for 6 Raven).

Bath team: 15 Gary Kingdom 14 Victor Oniyidi-Frampton 13 Alex Crockett 12 Jemba Bull 11 Pat Johnson 10 Gareth Knox 9 Hadyn Thomas 1 James Graham 2 Matt Parfitt 3 Matt Stevens 4 Jonathon Pendlebury 5 James Hudosn 6 Wayne Sprangle 7 James Scaysbrook 8 Josh Lord Reps: Simon Cole, Joe Waterman, Adrain Hales, Steve Salvin, Ceri Jones, Matt Hastings, Hawkins

Scoring sequence:

17 mins Bath pen scored by Kingdom 0-3

19 mins Tigers try by Hipkiss and con by Taylor 7-3

36 mins Tigers try by Holford and con by Taylor 14-3

44 mins Bath pen by Kingdom 14-6

49 mins Tigers pen by Taylor 17-6

63 mins Bath try by Pendlebury 17-11

79 mins Tigers pen by Myring 20-11

83 mins Bath try by Johnson 20-16

Date: Saturday 1st February 2003 Time: 2.30pm k/o

Weather: Sunny, blue sky but a freezing cold air (just ask TT as her hands typing were red raw and Zara couldn’t keep still on the terraces)Crowd: 250 brave souls (who cheered like crazy when the score was announced over the tannoy)

Ref: Don Hale (Mr. Trigger happy with the whistle)

Man-of-the-match: Danny “posh kid” Hipkiss as judged by the match reporting team

Sin-bin: 43 mins Luke Abraham

Tigers team: 15 Luke Sayer 14 Yomi Akinyemi 13 Steve Glitherow 12 Danny “posh kid” Hipkiss 11 John Holtby 10 Tim Taylor 9 Will Rolt 1 Peter Cook 2 James Buckland 3 Michael Holford (CAPT) 4 Tom Ryder 5 Lee “hello girls” Morley 6 Sam Raven 7 Ben Gerry 8 Luke Abraham Reps: Luke Myring (67 mins on for 10 Taylor), Adam Billig, David Jackson (75 mins on for 3 Buckland), Alex Loney (75 mins on for 9 Rolt), Matt Hampson (58 mins on for 4 Ryder), Rob Cooke (50 mins on for 3 Holford), Peter Clarke (67 mins on for 6 Raven). Bath team: 15 Gary Kingdom 14 Victor Oniyidi-Frampton 13 Alex Crockett 12 Jemba Bull 11 Pat Johnson 10 Gareth Knox 9 Hadyn Thomas 1 James Graham 2 Matt Parfitt 3 Matt Stevens 4 Jonathon Pendlebury 5 James Hudosn 6 Wayne Sprangle 7 James Scaysbrook 8 Josh Lord Reps: Simon Cole, Joe Waterman, Adrain Hales, Steve Salvin, Ceri Jones, Matt Hastings, Rob Hawkins

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