By Glen Leat
December 15 2002

Iain Balshaw brought a new dimension to the Bath team against Bridgend in the second leg of the Parker Pen Cup Anglo/Welsh encounter which included a much needed injection of pace and the ability to beat opponents standing in front of him. Bath ran out easy winners 38-10.

Oh what a pleasure it was to sit in anticipation once again whenever Iain Balshaw got the ball. He may not yet be up to the standard of his heroics a couple of seasons ago but the lad looks like he is well on his way; hopefully his own dreadful year following the Lion's tour is in the past and a once bright star can begin shinning again!

This was definitely a game of two halves with a bright and breezy first half in which the Bath players were generally able to express themselves and a very dull second half marred by a stop/start performance by both teams and referee Joel Dume. Fortunately Bath managed to maintain their scoring in both halves and coaches Foley and Smith will dine well tonight knowing this was a job well done in some trying circumstances.

This game reminded me of a good old fashioned Bath versus a Welsh team from the amateur days. With plenty of blood and thunder, fights, points and more scrums than you could shake a stick at. When the rain came (as Rod Stewart once said in his great song from 1971, Mandolin Wind) and the players starting to steam I almost caught a glimpse of Chilcott, Dawe and Lee packing down for Bath - lovely stuff!. And Richard Webster even got in on the act as he enjoyed some banter with the Bath crowd.

It only took six minutes for the first fight and immediately Webster was on his feet rubbing his hands with glee; I bet he wished he was still in the thick of things as this type of encounter was right up his street. Later on, as Webster was prowling round what they call in football circles "his technical area" (though I've always thought a "technical area" was something to do with meat and two veg) someone shouted "Sit down Webster I can't see." The Bridgend Assistant Coach turned and shouted back "Buy a better seat then!" to which the reply from the crowd was "Well at least I pay for my seat!". Things could have got out of hand at this stage when up popped Andrew Brownsword to shake Webster's hand and have a little chat. Before taking his place back on the bench Webster turned to the crowd and said "It's all right he says I can stay!"

Bridgend gave away countless penalties by spoiling Bath's play and so it is to the credit of the home side that they walked away with three tries, more were there for the taking but for a litany of infringements by the visitors; so many in fact that several of their players were kindly asked by referee Dume to have a rest in the "quiet yellow area".

After thirteen minutes Balshaw scored the first of his brace. Bridgend had been penalised several times in their own twenty-two and on the last occasion Bath opted for a scrum from which Beattie picked up at the base to feed Cooper who dummied his tackler and was pulled down just short of the line but was able to off-load to the full-back for an easy score. Within two minutes Balsh was at it again, not scoring this time but making a monkey out of the defenders. He took a high clearance kick with ease, ran at the defenders and then chipped them and just missed picking up the chip-kick by a fingertip. Had he made this catch there was little to stop him running 50 yards to the line for another score. This was what the Bath faithful had been waiting for and it warmed a few cockles on a very cold afternoon.

Balshaw's second try came in the twenty-seventh minute. A hacked clearance upfield saw the Bath flyer dash past everyone and his speed created sufficient time for him to wait for the ball to bounce to his advantage and dive over the line. The crowd was on its feet.

A 21-10 half time score was taken to 38-10 at full time courtesy of an Alex Crockett try, which saw him also break through the defensive line, and more Barkley penalties. Balshaw was replaced after 63 minutes and he left the pitch to tremendous applause knowing that he had done enough to tell his followers at the Rec that he is back. Welcome home Iain, it's been a long time!

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

Question: Will Bath beat Bridgend at The Rec? Yes 86% No 12% Draw 0% Don't Know 0% Don't Care Anymore 2%

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

Bath scorers
Tries: Balshaw (2), Crockett, Maggs
Cons: Barkley (2)
Pens: Barkley (4)
Drop Goal:

Bath:

15. Iain Balshaw 14. Simon Danielli 13. Kevin Maggs 12. Alex Crockett 11. Tom Voyce 10. Olly Barkley 9. Gareth Cooper 1. David Barnes 2. Jonathan Humphreys
3. John Mallett 4. Steve Borthwick 5. Andy Beattie 6. Gavin Thomas 7. Adam Vander 8. Nathan Thomas