By The Rolferoo
December 8 2002

Bath returned from Wales last night with a two point loss after Bridgend winger, Craig Warlow, slotted home a last minute penalty to ensure his team take a "half time" lead of 28-26 to The Rec next Saturday. But this game was not just about the result but about the return of Iain Balshaw. Say what you see and what you don’t was Glen’s brief to me prior to my venture into the frenetic world of Internet journalism! Fair enough: I didn’t see Bath win - a 28-26 loss on a chilly eevning to an ordinary Bridgend side, so no surprise there. But what I did see ought to encourage even the most pessimistic of Bath supporters, and that was the sight of Iain Balshaw wearing Bath colours after an absence of more than six months. Not only did he play a competitive game of rugby at last, but more importantly he played with the zest, flair and, at times brilliance that we had missed since way back before the Lions tour of 2000.

This was a monumentally important game of rugby for the young full back from Blackburn. Not only did he have to prove to us that he can still play rugby, he had to convince himself.

Given the length of his absence, he could be forgiven for being a little rusty and cautious. Not a bit of it! Like a lamb in Spring, Balsh leapt and bounded all over the pitch. His first touch of the ball was a beautiful pick up off his toes combined with a burst of speed that made the large contingent of travelling Bath fans (so typical for Welsh games) not only breath a huge sigh of relief, but also take a gasp of excitement, too.

Balsh lasted a good ¾ of the game, and didn’t our backs ever look good for it! For the first time in nearly eighteen months we had a fit and healthy playmaker who added some desperately needed voltage to our back line. Jinking left and right, Balsh displayed both the attacking and defensive qualities that had made him such a star, and capped it off with a lovely try- one more than the whole of last season put together!

Don’t get me wrong, it was by no means his perfect game. A couple of needless hospital passes and a shoddy mix up when with Chris Malone when isolated in our own 22 all nearly led to Bridgend scoring, but the good points far outweighed the bad.

Balshaw aside, Bath had a scrappy game against an evenly matched Bridgend, and, in my opinion we were unlucky to concede the game with the final kick of the match.

Neither teams were helped by the dreadful Didiér Méné who did an uncanny impression of Roger Whittaker throughout the game. How he ever became an international referee is beyond me, as his concept of advantage and physical positioning on the pitch is simply abysmal. On more than one occasion, he stood at the back of Bath rucks and mauls in between Coops and Chris Malone, ruining any chance of quick ball (not that it really mattered, as Malone did a reasonable job of slowing it down, anyway!).

Our forwards had a real Jeckyll and Hyde evening. We were slaughtered in the scrums, (Chris Horsman having a beauty against his old club) so much so that Alessio Galasso- the saviour of Bath’s front row, was substituted with the game barely half an hour old! To be fair, the introduction of Shep Mallett did shore us up a bit, but Galasso’s loss in form is extremely worrying at this stage of the season.

In contrast to the scrums, we cleaned up in the lineout to the extent that Bridgend were forced to throw in short for most of the game.

Ironic then that the game was effectively lost through mistakes in the lineout. To begin with, Borth (gloves and all!) failed to hold on to a bread and butter ball from a Bridgend throw, and pawed it straight into the arms of their mohicanned scrumhalf who fed the backs for Gareth Thomas to romp over in the corner for their first try. Then, at the death Nathan Thomas was penalised for pulling down their line. Penalty Bridgend. Three points, goodnight Vienna!

So, we go into the second leg with a two point deficit. A win would obviously have been more palatable, but we shouldn’t lose sleep between now and next Saturday as I fully expect us to turn them over on our own pitch.

After all, Iain Balshaw is back once again! Anyone know Clive Woodward’s ‘phone number?

This close result sets up the return leg nicely for a pre-Christmas victory for Bath and at least the supporters know they are going to a competitive game unlike the farce of the last round when Gran Parma visited Bath.

Let's look at the result of your prediction for this game:

Question: Will Bath beat Bridgend? Yes 41% No 30% Draw 0% Don't Know 7% Don't Care Anymore 23%

So what did you think of the Bath players in this game? Vote by clicking on to here

Bath scorers
Tries: Williams, Balshaw
Cons: Malone (2)
Pens: Malone (4)
Drop Goal:

Bath:

15. Iain Balshaw 14. Simon Danielli 13. Kevin Maggs 12. Mike Tindall 11. Alex Crockett 10. Chris Malone 9. Andy Williams 1. Dave Barnes 2. Lee Mears
3. Alessio Galasso 4. Steve Borthwick 5. Danny Grewcock 6. James Scaysbrook 7. Andy Beattie 8. Nathan Thomas