By Glen Leat
October 2 2004

Dick Whittington, Mike Burton, Frank Whittle, The Glawster Citizen, The Kingsholm Chronicle, Shead Head, The Dean of Glawster Cathedral, Eddie The Eagle, Peter Phillips, Anne Robinson your boys took one hell of a beating! 29-14 to be precise and still you can't beat us at The Rec in the League.

I have to be honest and say I expected Bath to take a bit of a hammering today and I'm munching on a lovely big slice of humble pie as I type these words. Glawster came to the game in cracking form and looked as though they would finally break their Rec league jinx. In contrast Bath came to the game having staggered through losses to Northampton and  Newcastle and beating possibly the two weakest  teams in the league, Worcester and Harlequins.

Previously this season the forwards looked like they didn't trust the backs to make use of their hard won ball and the backs had so little ball they they didn't know what to do with it when they got it. Then came today. Within moments of the game starting Bath were playing at a pace required to keep good opponents on the back foot. Martyn Wood threw more quick, flat passes in 70 minutes than he has in the whole of the rest of his Bath career and what a difference. Barkley was taking ball without pressure which in turn gave Mike Tindall and Robbie Fleck the opportunity to demonstrate their true skills. Fleck's tackling today was monstrous, creating a great deal of unease in the Glawster back-line. Fleck was also very frustrated as on two occasions he had a chance to latch on to a late pass from Barkley with an open field in front of him yet the ball was not passed: the South African thumped the ground with frustration. Tindall's man of the match award was well deserved, scoring two tries, but all the backs performed today because they were allowed to. Besty and Higgins looked back on form and provided excellent support to their two centres.

Amazingly, given what I have written over the last 12 months, I was somewhat disappointed to see Martyn Wood substituted after 70 minutes and really couldn't see the point (unless of course if he is injured). Today I saw why we bought Wood and if that is the standard he can muster week in, week out I'll get off his case and support the bloke. Mind you he still couldn't resist trying to referee the game a couple of times instead of feeding the scrum as he should and it cost us a free kick and, more importantly, possession on both occasions.

The Glawster backs looked sharp and you couldn't help but clench your buttocks as the likes of Garvey, Fanolua, Simpson-Daniel and Goodridge ran at the Bath defence. These blokes are quick and take some stopping: Garvey skinned Daniel early on in the game in a simple foot race and Bath were grateful to see the ball bounce across the dead-ball line. On the evidence of today's game Henry Paul looked like their weak link but with top class players like Gommersall and McRae (love him or hate him he's good) it won't be long before the Cherry and Whites are back on song.

But the real heroes today were, once again, the Bath forwards. Immense is insufficient to describe what they did today. The Bath pack made a tough Glawster eight look like boys against men. The scrums were dominated, if not always won, by Bath but it was in the line-outs that this game was won and lost. Every Bath forward outplayed his Glawster opponent in the line-outs and I lost count of the number Bath won on the Glawster throw - too many judging by the look on Dean Ryan's face as the game wore on. I noticed that on too many occasions (for the Glaws fans that is) their forwards were drifting out towards the wings (on the wrong side of the field) and leaving their backs to face up to the Bath forwards - no contest!

Olly Barkley scored with a penalty after just a few minutes, the first of seven successful kicks at goal to give him 19 points and a great boost to his flagging confidence. Glawster scored next with a penalty of their own and then both teams traded penalties to take the score to 6-6. But Bath regained the lead on the half-hour after Duncan McRae fumbled the ball and it fell in to the grateful arms of the ever-active Mike Tindall who scooped the ball up and fell over the line. Another Barkley penalty took the score to 16-6 at half time and the Bath crowd was buzzing with excitement.

Referee Dave Pearson maintained his Landeresque relationship with the Bath crowd with his use of the Sin Bin. Firstly Robbie Fleck was shown yellow for a late shoulder charge on James Simpson-Daniel and Rob Fidler had to have a sit down by Tony Spreadbury right at the end of the game. In between this Glawster replacement hooker, Olivier Azam, was binned for impeding Danny Grewcock at a line-out.

Duncan McRae almost made amends for his case of dropsy in the first half with an early second half drop goal but Bath soon wiped this score out with another Barkley penalty. The game was then taken beyond the reach of the visitors when Mike Tindall scored his second try of the match following some excellent back-line movement.

Jon Goodridge scored a late try for the visitors following a mass change over of Bath players, which always leaves us vulnerable and I just thank God that this player rotation lark didn't cost us more than one score. But let's not dwell on the things that weren't perfect as this was an important win as well as being an impressive win. Heading off to the East Midlands next week to face the formidable Tigers, the Bath players will feel they can mix it with the best and control the game to match their own skills.

Well done Bath, well done Mike Tindall but most of all well done Martyn Wood (there, I've said it!).

Let's have a quick look at what some of the Sheddites were saying on the Shedweb messageboard prior to the match:

"Glaws by at least 15 with a try bonus with that lot in against us. Wood is good but not a patch on Gommers. Bez is on the bench and when he comes on will destroy the front row of Barf on his own. The game will be pivotal in the locks and the only other competitive face off will be between the creative HP and the hard running of Tindall. Simple Lee Best is doubtful under pressure. If we play like we did against Saints it will be a joy. We haven't played past 75% of potential this season. I feel that this years team will surpass the team that beat Newport away..." (Rob - a Gold member no less!).

"Hope Ollie and Alex have the lineout routines working well." (Sir Henry - another Gold member).

And let's have a look at some of their comments afterwards:

"If we can go over the top when we win lets accept it on the chin if we lose. Four from five is still a good return. We were never in the game really. Their pack was so much better. Henrys kicking was awful. We got the tactics just right at Northampton. Today it was totally wrong and we were beaten by a better side on the day who wanted it more than we did." (Baz - also a Gold member).

"Poor line out - guess we won 40%. Poor discipline - Azam on for 3 mins and then in the bin - endless silly penalties given away. Poor penalty kicking. Poor mental attitude - after dominating the first twenty minutes we just lost it. Poor pre match press - guess Tindall had the last laugh about his "crash bang" game. (Knibbsy1 - not a Gold member).

"Poor attitude amongst the backs I thought. Seemed to be on the defensive from the start. Apart from the kicks, HP had a good game as did Garvey and McRae. Lineout was a shambles, Chris seemed rattled, and the jumping was just plain bad. As already said, terrible discipline, and giving away pointless penalties for offside/round the side. They'll be fine next week, they just can't get over the wreck hang-up. And from my first visit there today, was most unimpressed with the mud, awful food and the temp. stand. Good bars though." (Ulic - also not a Gold member).


So what do all these Glaws blokes use to get gold members?

Bath: Best, Higgins, Fleck, Tindall, Daniel, Barkley, Wood, Barnes, Humphreys (capt), Bell, Borthwick, Grewcock, Beattie, Lipman, Feaunati
Replacements: Walshe, Hawkins, Stevens, Malone, Davey, Delve, Fidler.

Gloucester: Goodridge, Garvey, Fanolua, Paul, Simpson-Daniel, McRae, Gomarsall, Sigley , Azam, Powell , Buxton, Brown, Boer (c), Hazell, Balding
Replacements: Fortey, Wood, Bezuidenhout, Eustace, Forrester, Page, Bailey.

Referee: Dave Pearson

Finally can I dedicate this match report to Keith Andrews, a keen Bath follower for many years, who died last week. Keith didn't want sadness at his funeral and I understand a Bath shirt or two were worn to help celebrate Keith's life - nice one mate!