London Welsh
Bath v London Welsh Preview
By Mark W-J
March 27 2013
Now that the appeal is done-and-dusted, we can finally concentrate on the rugby. London Welsh have four games left to make up the five points lost in order to preserve their Premiership status. Sale’s victory over Bath last Friday would have seen them move above us regardless, so we find ourselves occupying the sole relegation berth for the first time since we lost at the Stoop in round two.
Reading the Bath fans’ site you could be forgiven for thinking that their team are the ones five points adrift at the bottom of the table with four games remaining. Yet they are actually sitting in seventh place, chasing Heineken Cup qualification on two fronts, with Stade Francais due in the Roman city next Saturday for an Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final. But when you’ve won every piece of silverware on offer - six league titles, ten domestic knockout cups, one Heineken Cup (1997-98) and one European Challenge Cup (2007-08), plus one Middlesex Sevens (1994) - then scrapping for qualification for the blue riband event equates to another year of underperformance, or even failure. When you factor in the investment of Bruce Craig, reputedly the richest benefactor in the Premiership, and the development in world-class training facilities at Farleigh House, Bath Rugby was supposed to be emerging as the finest club side in the land, so you can start to understand the fans’ unrest after another barren year. This is the eighteenth year of European club competitions, and the English clubs have taken part in all but two - the very first season (1995-96) and again three years later, when a dispute between European Rugby and the RFU resulted in a boycott which prevented Bath from defending their crown. This is just the fifth time that Bath have failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup in those sixteen seasons, and they won’t want to be reminded that in the past they have twice suffered a two-year absence. In their four previous appearances in the second-tier competition they have failed to reach the final only once - in 2003-04, when they lost 53-51 on aggregate to eventual runners-up Montferrand (Clermont Auvergne) in the last four. They were losing finalists in both 2002-03 (30-48 v Wasps) and 2006-07 (22-16 v Clermont) before beating Worcester 24-16 in the final at Kingsholm five years ago to bring an end to a ten year drought without any silverware.
Gordon Ross leaves Charlie Sharples
clutching at air last Saturday
The London Welsh supporters will be as aware as their counterparts at the Rec of Bath’s poor away form this season. They were our third victims of the season when they lost 16-9 at the Kassam in early November, with a 78th minute penalty from Gordon Ross drawing us level before Nick Scott’s interception try at the death. But last Friday night they lost 14-13 at Sale, a result which not only left us staring down the barrel, but also seriously dented their own top six aspirations. They haven’t won away from home in the Premiership since the opening weekend, and even that victory - 24-23 at Worcester - was sealed with Olly Barkley’s eighth successful penalty in the very last minute. Their performances at the Rec have been much more impressive, a 22-0 pre-Christmas defeat to Saracens aside: seven wins and two defeats would place them fourth in the table on home form alone. Their seven defeats on the road (they drew 12-12 at Exeter over the Christmas period) have generated six losing bonus points, but after Saturday’s game their remaining three fixtures are Harlequins (A), Leicester (H) and Saracens (A), so any hopes of overhauling sixth-placed Wasps and holding the Chiefs - currently one point behind in eighth - at bay look (if I may be so bold) fairly remote. Some of their supporters feel that Welsh represent a dangerous animal this weekend - wounded by both events off the field and on, where a highly valuable, albeit equally unexpected, win at Gloucester was snatched from our grasp so cruelly last Saturday. It wasn’t much of a spectacle, and according to some of the journalists present we offered very little in attack despite scoring the only try of the afternoon, but encouragingly we kept our line intact for just the third time this season and the first since our last win, over London Irish on 1st December: the first time, of course, was against Bath.
Welsh defence holds firm as Browne
and Hills stop Gloucester's Mike Tindall
While Phil Mackenzie’s try at Kingsholm was only the 20th touchdown we’ve recorded in eighteen league games - just half of the 40 tries scored by Wasps, Leicester and Northampton - it was his fifth score of the season and third in four games, which puts him joint sixth in the charts, alongside three England internationals, Ugo Monye, David Strettle and Danny Care. Two Bath players - winger Tom Biggs and centre Kyle Eastmond - have scored four apiece, and both were rewarded for their current form with call-ups to England Saxons duty for their two games with Scotland and Ireland during the recent Six Nations window. The three-quarters have contributed fourteen of the 33 tries that Bath have scored in the Premiership this season, while 21 of the 48 tries we’ve conceded and half of those we’ve scored have come from the same four positions. The weather forecast may suggest that this is going to be another dour attritional battle with the two packs slugging it out in the puddles on the Rec, but the two back divisions are going to play their part. At half-back, Bath have long been driven by Michael Claassens, brother of Errie, but in recent weeks they’ve been given a new lease of life by the evergreen Peter Stringer. He may be surplus to requirements for both Ireland, for whom he won 98 caps, and Munster, but his performances in the Premiership - both for Saracens and, in particular, Newcastle last season and Bath this - suggest that he’s playing some of the best rugby of career at the age of 35.
Banahan on the burst
17 appearances and two tries this season
Saturday’s referee is Tim Wigglesworth, officiating in his 63rd Premiership game. He was the man in the middle when we lost at Leicester at the start of last month, and also in our 34-15 defeat at home to Wasps over Christmas. He could be in for a busy afternoon, as Bath and Welsh have received a combined total of 24 cards this season - twelve yellows for the Welsh (for twelve different players) and nine yellows and three reds for Bath. Mr Wigglesworth was the man who dismissed three players - Francois Louw, Matt Banahan and the Tigers’ Brett Deacon - during Bath’s 17-12 defeat at Welford Road on 1st December, and he also brandished the red card during Gloucester’s visit to the Rec four weeks ago, with visiting hooker Darren Dawidiuk subsequently receiving a six week ban for a tip-tackle on Dave Atwood. Dawidiuk appealed against the original decision, but it was upheld by our good friend, Gareth Rees QC. Our first meeting with Mr Wigglesworth was in February 2003, when he officiated in a 67-17 win over Rugby Lions at ODP. We scored nine tries that afternoon, through Chris Ritchie, Geraint John (two), Adam Bidwell, Matt Fitzgerald, Dafydd Lewis, Florent Rossigneux, Bruno Green and Richard Catt, with Lewis kicking eight conversions and two penalties. It may be highly optimistic to even suggest it, but another bonus point win on Saturday would be most welcome, although you suspect that Bath won’t be underestimating us this time after their rude awakening at Oxford. Many London Welsh fans have optimistically identified where the five point differential can be recovered between now and the beginning of May, but with a losing streak that now extends to eight games, the psychological blow of that last-gasp defeat last weekend, and this week’s completion of the disciplinary proceedings, it’s difficult to realistically see a way out of our predicament. But, then again, we’ve seen miracles on the pitch at the Kassam, not to mention in Paris and Cardiff in recent months. As long as our fellow Exiles can continue their recent run of form at home to Sale on Sunday then our future is still in our hands.
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Stumbleupon27/03/2013 20:58
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Are the travelling fans from Llareggub making the trip this weekend?
London Welsh: 15. Seb Jewell, 14. Phil MacKenzie*, 13. Gonzalo Tiesi*, 12. Sonny Parker*, 11. Seb Stegmann, 10. Gordon Ross*, 9. Alex Davies, 1. Franck Montanella*, 2. Dan George, 3. Paulica Ion*, 4. Jonathan Mills (C), 5. Kirill Kulemin*, 6. Julio Cabello Farias*, 7. Michael Hills, 8. Daniel Browne.
Replacements: 16. Greg Bateman, 17. Tom Bristow, 18. James Tideswell, 19. Matt Corker, 20. Adam Balding, 21. Rob Lewis, 22. James Lewis, 23. Nick Scott.
then changes:
London Welsh head coach Lyn Jones has been forced to make two changes to his starting line up to face Bath this afternoon at the Recreation Ground after Franck Montanella failed a fitness test.
Tom Bristow now starts at loosehead in place of Montanella, with Greg Bateman named at hooker and Dan George moving to the bench.
Arthur Joly takes Bristow’s place on the bench.
Five points adrift at the bottom, the Exiles now face a huge battle to beat the drop but Jones is adamant they will put up a fight.
He said: "We knew there would be a big opening 20 minutes from Bath and they didn't disappoint us.
"They were good, really good. But I'm pleased with the effort the boys put into defence and attack.
"Overall, it's a fair result but all I can ask our players is to give everything, every week and that's what they're doing.
"We've had five away games on the trot and just two bonus points to show for it. We've got three fixtures left and we've just got to keep plugging away.
"There's lots of spirit, lots of heart -there's lots that's good in our game. We're just waiting for a little luck to perhaps shine down on us."
Quote:johntywyn
I am surprised that L.W. kicked 6 penalties. I would have thought the number one priority would have been to go for four tries and a bonus point.
No, the priority would have been a win by any means, and we came 10 mins short of it (2 mins at end of first half and last 8 mins of the second).
And starting from 10 points down, we twice got back to within sight of a lead before going down. For half the game we were the better team, but just couldn't break through the final defensive layer.
Good, open game. Pity we couldn't have had the time preseason to have developed this side.
Quote:20-15 to Irish approaching htnld
Big game at the Madejski this afternoon. Irish v Sale ko at 2.15. Sale win and it's probably all over?
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