By Cherrybomb
May 4 2002

Gloucester whipped a terrible Bath at home to the chant of "Going Down, Going Down, Going Down" from the Kingsholm faithful. 3 tries from James Simpson-Daniel out of 9 overall secured Gloucester a massive 68-12 victory. Kingsholm was packed to the rafters before kickoff, and even at 2:45 the front metal bar in the shed was already full of Supporters, meaning for the first time this season I would stand further back in the shed and admire the view from a slightly different perspective. Gloucester-Bath games are always ones to look forward to, and for the Gloucester supporters at least this was one to cherish.

Henry Paul had one of his best games in a Gloucester shirt, starting at full back for the first time in his Rugby Union career. When the ball came to him he would always make the correct decision whether to kick or not, and when he did kick they were very good kicks. The only thing he was at fault for today was the odd wandering pass. Terry Fanolua also had a good game, putting in some good tackles. Bath didn't lose the game, Gloucester won it, and many of the tries are sure to be contenders for try of the month.

Bath, in all fairness to them, were without some of their stars, though I think we would have ripped them to pieces even if Bath had a full team. Mike Catt, Matt Perry and Mike Tindall were all missing. Gloucester's target for the game would've surely been to get five points, and they did so before half time.

Sinbad was the first to score for Gloucester, running in a typical wingers try off an overlap. From the first fifteen minutes you knew who was going to win this game, with Junior Paramore also going over. Not too long after Robert Todd also scored, and Patrice Collazo secured the bonus point before half time. Ludo got a massive reception from the Kingsholm crowd to show that his miss on Sunday has been forgiven, and put in some fantastic kicking from hand and from the tee. Before half time he added a drop goal to make the score 35-0.

In the second half Bath were still abysmal, not even looking to add some pride to the score. Terry Fanolua went over for his first, and later Henry Paul got a deserved score going over in the corner. Bath then scored a try against the grain from Sam Cox, but Simpson Daniel then scored another showing fantastic pace, before Fanolua also added his second. The next Simpson-Daniel try was pure class from him and Fanolua, who combined superbly down the left wing, Sinbad eventually being the one to score.

Gary Delve, a Bath substitute, scored because of poor defense from a tired Gloucester, but the boys were ecstatic after the drubbing they gave their most hated rivals. The Gloucester players showed their support of the Gloucester fans after the match when there was a pitch invasion, everyone eager to thank the boys for the effort that they have put in this year.

Final Score: Gloucester 68-12 Bath (hee hee)

After the match glosrfc.com got a few words from the man of the moment, James Simpson-Daniel.

"I think it was three today wasn't it? Surely that is a sign for things to come from you?"

"Yeah it is, I've been working really hard all week for it and when you get three out there it means a lot to me."

"This win has set us up well for second place in the Premiership, do you think we could maybe go a little easy on Leeds to help Bath secure relegation?

"Well we're not quite second yet, London Irish and Sale are very close to us, we're going to have to go up to Leeds and play well because they are very hard to play away, and then we will remain second."

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