By Glen Leat
January 25 2003

Sixteen man Northampton snatched a late victory in this pulsating Powergen Cup Quarter Final and thanks to their star man, Steve Lander, walked away with the win 29 - 30 and a place in the Semi-Final. This was a pulsating game from the old school and was great to watch - shame about the result!

How Steve Lander did not spot the forward pass to Steve Thompson and his subsequent knock on as he attacked the Bath line late in the second half is beyond me; it beggars belief that an official keeping up with play and in line with the ball could not spot this blatant error. Even Thompson stopped for a split second as his rugby brain told him the whistle would shortly blow for the error. But the whistle stayed silent, Lander flapped his arms (as though he was shaking a sheet out to dry) for play on and Northampton maintained their attack and eventually scored the killer try through Peter Jorgenson with just a few minutes left on the clock.

Bath had time to respond, and given the numerous lengthy stoppages in the second half, there should have been six or seven minutes added to the standard eighty, but lo and behold up pops Lander after three minutes extra and blows for full time; gutted and robbed. Here we were, after a wretched season of poor play and injuries, just a few minutes away from qualifying for the semi-finals and Steve Lander denies us our rightful place.

This was a brilliant occasion and for the first time in years I felt real passion at a match. My thanks go out to the great hordes of Saints fans who are always noisy and passionate about their team and helped make this a game to remember. The game started with controversy as Olly Barkley kicked the first of many appalling drop-outs and Bath were deemed off-side but the penalty was reversed with the Saints starting the first of several fights and our boy-wonder slotted home from the half-way line.

Within a few moments the scores were level from a Saints penalty but the pendulum swung back to Bath with a sixth minute penalty to Barkley. Bath then scored their first try as Catt kicked a penalty to touch only for England winger Ben Cohen to fluff his catch and knock the ball in to touch by the Saints line. From the line-out and shove the excellent Adam Vander got the ball to Gareth Cooper who dashed over for the score.

Throughout the first half Bath ran the ball at every opportunity and Steve Lander blew his whistle at every opportunity. It seemed as though the man wanted to penalise both sides for as many different law infringements as he could think of; I'm sure I spotted him checking his law book at a quiet time to see if he had missed anything. Bath got a further penalty after 20 minutes for a late tackle and Barkley, who didn't miss all afternoon, put his team 16 - 3 ahead.

Ben Cohen struck with the first of his two tries after 23 minutes, with the Bath defence missing tackles for the only time in the game to allow the big winger to redeem himself for his earlier error. Cohen did the business again after 33 minutes when he caught a cross field kick from Grayson to take his side in to the lead. But Bath responded in the best way possible - they scored a try themselves through David Barnes.

Andy Beattie was sin binned on the stroke of half time for playing the ball on the ground and from the ensuing penalty Grayson missed a simple opportunity. Bath took to the dressing room with a slender 23 - 17 lead.

The second half was played in similar manner to the first with both teams playing with passion, though Lander came in to his own in the final 40 minutes as his decision making lurched towards the visitors' camp. Gareth Cooper caught a dose of "base of ruck dropsey" at two very crucial times, firstly when Bath were camped on the Saints line and pressing for a score that my have killed off the game and secondly on his own as the Bath defence was showing itself to be more than a match for the Northampton attack. Mark Connors and Danny Grewcock then had a bit of a bash which resulting in both being binned and Connors getting a split lip and Grewcock a lump under his eye; and to think they could have been team mates!

Bath gained a penalty after to 62 minutes to take the score to 26 - 20 but the Saints soon struck back with one of their own after a foolish Bath defender laid his hands on a ruck ball whilst lying on the ground: 26 - 23. Another Bath penalty after 67 minutes made the score 29 - 23 but then the curse of Lander struck and Bath trudged off the field 29 - 30 losers. Diabolical!!!!

Bath made real progress today and despite losing I felt something about my team I have not felt for some time - passion about the game. Thank you boys the £44 I shelled out on tickets for the boy and myself was money well spent!

Ah well get over it - it's Leicester next week and we'll beat them, clamber up the league, win the PPC, qualify for the European Cup, Bristol will be relegated and Glawster will be pipped for the League title by Sale!!!!! I'm on my second gin now and plan to get plastered tonight on red wine and port to deaden the pain.

Click on to the Northampton Saints site for their perspective on things.

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

Question: Will Bath beat Northampton in the Cup? Yes 50% No 34% Draw 0% Don't Know 4% No Chance! 12%

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

Bath scorers
Tries: Cooper, Barnes
Cons: Barkley 2
Pens: Barkley 5
Drop Goal:

Bath:

15. Matt Perry 14. Simon Danielli 13. Mike Tindall 12. Kevin Maggs 11. Olly Barkley 10. Mike Catt 9. Gareth Cooper 1. David Barnes 2. Jonathan Humphreys
3. Alessio Galasso 4. Steve Borthwick 5. Danny Grewcock 6. Andy Beattie 7. Adam Vander 8. Nathan Thomas