London Irish vs. Bath Rugby - a match report of sorts

This match report was written by me, initially for The Craic but I thought I would post it here as well.

I preface this match report by letting you know that I attended this game with my four year old daughter Hattie, so no notes were taken, and I do not have ESPN to watch the game back, therefore this may become less of a match 'report', and more my observations and musings on the game.

First up, I attended the match with Bath at home last season, and as a reminder, these were my thoughts after that late, late defeat... Through the eyes of a child

So to this weekend's match, and I arrived at the ground feeling in all honesty, very confident about out chances of righting a record that has not seen us beat Bath at home in the league since the 2006/07 season. Any slight concerns that I had about a lack of ball carrying options in our pack, were tempered by the form of Dan Bowden, and the ability of the players outside him to fashion chances for nothing.

On our arrival, we headed for the Digger Pound, where Hattie had her face painted and transformed into a beautiful butterfly, along with the obligatory high fives with Digger, before heading round towards our seats, with a quick stop for Hattie to tell Eek that he is 'The Music Man'.

Having reached our seats in West Stand, the teams were coming out to warm up, and I was struck by how intense and fired up some of our guys looked. Now in some regards this is a good thing, as you want them focused and ready to go to battle, but in contrast to them Bath looked relaxed to me intheir warm up, and that was the first point at which I started to become concerned at how the match may pan out.

So to the actual game, and although difficult to tell from row B in the stand it looks to me as if the entire Bath team is offside at almost every breakdown, and Darren Allinson seems to be suffering as a result. We need quick ball and it is not forthcoming, with Darren scragged a couple of times early on and Bath seemingly making a complete mess of the breakdown.

Our first lineout comes, and David Paice misses. Now that is a concern. I never worry about our lineout, but when he misses again the next time, the alarm bells are starting to ring in my head. The scrum however is the opposite. I always worry, but today, as last week, our scrum is on top, and Max is looking very destructive on the loosehead side. Maybe we will get a platform to play from after all.

The first chance for points however goes to Bath, but Vesty fails to get any distance on a kick that he really should slot, and the game continues with scores level.

We seem to be lacking penetration during the opening stages, and that is compounded when one of our most potent attacking threats leaves the field injured after 18 minutes. I understand it is a shoulder injury for JJ, and we all wish him a speedy recovery, and hope to see him back on the field in the very near future. Now, far be it from me to question Toby and Catty's decision making, but I must confess to being surprised to see Shingler run onto the field as a replacement. As far as I know, he's never played 13 at any level, whereas we have 2 players ont he field who have in Tom and Delon. For me it had to be one of them into midfield, with Adam coming into the back three, but it is what it is now, and the game moves on.

The best assessment I can give of the first half is that is was scrappy, and my overiding feeling was that we lacked composure in our play. With Bath making a mess of the breakdown, we seemed to try to regain composure by taking an age waiting at the back of the ruck and ensuring our attacking alignment is right. We never play well when we do this. The players, particularly darren and Dan, should have trusted their ability and just played, without panic, but with pace. This however didn't happen, and we never really looked like crossing the whitewash, despite spending long periods in the Bath half of the field.

With 32 minutes on the clock, we hit what was probably a key moment in the game. I was sat level with the 22, at that end, on that side of the pitch, in row B, so was no more than 10-15 yards from the 'tackle' by Delon. It sounded terrible, he really hit him with some force, and I am sure that Biggs was in some serious discomfort as a result. My initial impression having watched in real time was that Biggs stepped and appeared to slip slightly which brought his head lower than it would ordinarily be. Had he not, Delon would have connected across the upper part of his chest and it was unfortunate that he caught him in the head instead.

A Bath fan near me is screaming that it was disgraceful, but I think that may have more to do with a perception of Delon and his previous record than the actual tackle, although in fairness, it did look and sound bad, and Sir had little choice but to brandish the yellow card.

Now it would be unfair to say to say that being a man short cost us the game, but I genuinely don't feel that Bath had looked likely to score up until that point. whether it was confidence that they could get over with a man short, or a lack of confidence in Vesty's kicking at goal, they go for the corner, and a few phases on from the resulting lineout score in the opposite corner of the pitch as we run out of numbers in the defensive line. Vesty missed the extras, and at half time it's 0-5.

Whatever was said in the dressing room at half time, it appears to have had some effect, as in the early exchanges of the second half, our breakdown work was a lot better, although Darren seemed to still take an age getting the ball away, which is worrying, as we are never going to score tries without quick ball to play from. We do however pick up two penalties, which Tom converts, and with 10 minutes gone in the second half we are finally in front.

Now, again Toby is obviously paid to make decisions and I am not, but I couldn't understand the logic of bringing Max off, even if it was to bring on a player of the quality of Corbs. Max had sepnt most of the game shoving the Bath tightheads head up his own backside in the scrum, and ceratinly didn't look tired or injured from where I was sitting, and was one of the few ball carriers who seemed to be getting some joy when carrying into traffic.

Now the brief story of the rest of the game was that Dave Attwood scored a try in the corner, and Tom kicked two more penalties to put us 12-10 up with 5 minutes to go. At that point, my heart was in my mouth remember ing las t seasons defeat, and so it transpired again, as a penalty was conceded and Vesty stepped up to nudge Bath ahead again with about a minute on the clock. Now I have read various comments on The Craic stating that it was a very harsh penalty indeed, but from where I was sat, there is no way I could see, and therefore cannot comment.

So that was it, and despite some effort to fashion a late drop goal chance, we fell short again, and picked up our fourth LBP of the season. That may be key in the final count up, with lots of teams suffering the same inconsistencies as us, but wins would be better, especially at home.

The reasons for losings also need to be addressed, and although games can be poured over in minute detail by the coaching staff, the five key areas from yesterday that we have to improve on were the breakdown, the lineout, decision making, composure and ball carrying.

If you lok at the decision to take another scrum in the seocnd half when we had an easily kickable penalty, some might say that we were dominating that area of the game, so it was a decision that could easily have gained us 7 points. You have to however factor in the inconsitencies of referees at the set piece when making your decision, and the fact that it was such a tight gain, and you know Tom will score means that you have to go for 3 points at that juncture. It was one of many decisions by the team and the coaching staff that I did not understand yesterday.

The ball carrying is a worry. Without Garvey and the Hoff in the pack, we look lightweight, and very rarely threatened to get across the gainline and put Bath on the back foot. Topsy was our only back that looked like breaking through, and with out the heavyweights that we are missing up front, the rest of the backs need to find ways of getting through gaps if we are going to be successful.

Positives for me are that we at least got the LBP despite not playing well, the form of Max Lahiff (although we could have done with either him or Corbs making their name on the other side of the scrum really), and the knowledge that we have a points machine in Tom Homer.

I was feeling pretty gloomy last night after the game, as we have some big games coming up that could shape our season and it would have been nice to go into them off the back of a win and in good form, but thems the breaks, and we are where we are. Hopefully the players can pick themselves up and really take it to the Tigers at Welford Road next week. Let's get behind them, and hopefully this season will be success for us all.

I leave the final thoughts on the match to my middle daughter Hattie who was my companion for the day, and they were these...

1. 'Daddy, if that man (a Bath supporter sat near us) shouts rude words again when Tom is doing a kick I am going to put him on the naughty step'.
2. 'Why have we got Topsy in our team and not Tim?'
3. 'I love Digger and I want to wave my flag.'
4. 'Where's Big Bob? I want to see Big Bob.' (where indeed? leadership anyone?)
and
5. 'Did we win?' (No sweetheart, but maybe we will next week.)

COME ON YOU IRISH!!!

Good work fella

Nice piece written honestly, with a fair balance of opinion vs fact and a wonderfully heart-warming touch of humanity with regards to spending the day with your little lady.

God I love our game, naughty Bath fan aside, what could be a better way to spend the day?

I think Irish will miss Armitage this season, securing your own ball early is imperative and from what I've heard Mercer played really well and made a proper nuisance of himself on Irish ball.

I think Bath will surprise a few people this season, the squad is still bedding in together and there are a couple of new signings in Donald and Eastmond that are yet to figure, the back row looks particularly strong and there's a good mix of experience and youth in the tight 5. I believe Attwood got man of the match?

I'm a big fan of Booth and would like to see him get involved in the England set-up, but I'm not sure how that would fit with his role at the Exiles and whether the two could be balanced.

The lack of oomph in the Irish pack at the moment is a genuine worry for you, but it's still early days - unfortunately Irish have a few big games coming up and need to find some momentum from somewhere to build on going forward.

Maybe next time Hattie?

Cheers PJ.

The deficiencies that we have are all fairly obvious to the naked eye, so I am hoping that if I can see them, then so can the coaches and they will be able to address.

Ball carrying was a real issue for us yesterday, we really struggled getting forward momentum.

For Bath, the scrum seemed to be a bit of an issue, as it will always be likely to be with Mears at hooker. At the breakdown the whole Bath pack were very good at making a nuisance of themselves and not allowing us decent ball.

it wasn't the best of performances from either team really, both can play a lot better than they did yesterday, but I think ultimately both teams will fall short of silverware this season.

That's really a terrific article, mate. I like how you captured a bit of the flavour of the match and how you felt as events unfolded.

I watched on tv and think you guys played pretty well. With a little more grunt and a little more composure you would have pulled it out.

Next time you bring Hattie, suggest she turn to the fellow using the bad language and say: "Excuse me sir. I am only 4 years old. My daddy says I don't need to hear that sh1t from an a88hole like you". I think I read that in one of those positive parenting magazines.

Ozzy3213 wrote:Cheers PJ.

The deficiencies that we have are all fairly obvious to the naked eye, so I am hoping that if I can see them, then so can the coaches and they will be able to address.

Ball carrying was a real issue for us yesterday, we really struggled getting forward momentum.

For Bath, the scrum seemed to be a bit of an issue, as it will always be likely to be with Mears at hooker. At the breakdown the whole Bath pack were very good at making a nuisance of themselves and not allowing us decent ball.

it wasn't the best of performances from either team really, both can play a lot better than they did yesterday, but I think ultimately both teams will fall short of silverware this season.

It's difficult to see either team competing for top honours, but I have a feeling Bath may do well in the Anglo-Welsh, I think Booth will keep Irish in the hunt for a Heineken Cup knock-out place while making sure of a spot in next years competition.

What's with Casey anyway?

I'm not sure Mears is the real issue in the scrum, he needs a strong LH to get the best out of him and I'm afraid Catt isn't it, did things improve when Beech came on for Catt? Mears is at his best with Flatman doing the business and I would like to see Flatman, Mears and Perenise in action as soon as possible.

Good luck for next week, Tigers are still looking vulnerable with the injuries they have so there'll not be a much better time to go to Welford, I'll be in me lucky green pants.

Casey is injured, arm injury, but apparently could be back in a couple of weeks. We need him for his leadership. he may not be as mobile as some, but he adds some ballast and experience to our pack.

Catt didn't look to be the issue for your scrum, it was more the going over that Lahiff was giving Perenise on the other side that was the problem.

Nice report Ozzy. Just to be clear, not all Bath fans are abusive in front of children!

Frankly after that game both teams will know they can play a lot better and indeed will do. From a Bath point of view that was the sort of tight game that we have lost in the past, so it was pleasing to sneak a tight one without ever playing that well.

Bath's defence was very strong I thought and seeing and Irish have some of the most dangerous backs in the league it was good to keep a clean try sheet. Apart from that, there wasnt that much to get excited about I thought, the scrum seemed to be in real trouble at times and quite a few dozy penalties were given away.

On the Irish side, I think once some of the big boys some back in the pack you will be in better shape both in terms of go forward and also in terms of clearing out the opposition at the ruck. I thought Bath managed to slow the ball down a bit and if the Irish backs can get quick ball they are going to cause problems. Good luck for the rest of the season

Watching Irish I really thought you kicked way too much and didn't trust your outside backs enough at all.

There were hardly any set plays off of your scrum or line out and when ever you did get clean ball from the set piece you either kept it tight and stagnant or kicked it.

Problem areas:

Scrum half- I guess he's an academy boy as the lad you had playing was really poor, looked like it was too much of a step up especially with a smart little sod like Claasens opposite him.
Back row- Seemed to vanish for long periods, Kennedy was all over the shop rucking and carrying but 6-8 just stood off and didn't help.
10-13 axis- Something wrong here, I don't know if it was Hape losing the ball in contact or the 13 kicking it away but between them these players just couldn't work anything to trouble Bath. Bowden is a real gem but he needs some better runners around him.

Sorry to be so negative Pete but Irish are my second team (being rather close to me) and I was really disappointed with that effort from them.

Love the article though mate!

Bathman, I know all Bath fans are not like the fellas I was sat next to mate, my sister and brother in law support them so have been to The Rec a couple of times.

Yappy, the scrum half is Darren Allinson, we signed him from Cardiff Blues last season, and so far this year he has been very good, but had his worst performance in a London Irish shirt on Saturday, in large part due to Classens using all of his experience to presurize him at every opportunity.

Our back row balance is wrong, Thorpe is not an 8 and is not good enough, meaning that Gibson and Danaher had to do his work so at times neglected their own. We are missing Hala'ufia massively right now.

Now worries, though, we've got some team down near the bottom next week so should be an easy 4 points!

Pete, lovely article - can almost taste the atmosphere

Cheers As.

Just watched the highlights of the game, and with regard to the penalty against Hape, it possibly was harsh, but had it been the other way I would have been disappointed if the ref didn't give it.

As people have said I think, he makes the tackle and then gets back to his feet and contests, no problem there at all, but as Bath throw bodies in, he is knocked off balance and doesn't look like he is supporting his own weight (so therefore technically off his feet) and continues to play the ball briefly.

Borderline call as he had his hands on it before he was knocked off balance, but as I say had it been the other way I would have wanted the penalty for it, so no complaints from me.

Ozzy3213 wrote:Cheers As.

Just watched the highlights of the game, and with regard to the penalty against Hape, it possibly was harsh, but had it been the other way I would have been disappointed if the ref didn't give it.

As people have said I think, he makes the tackle and then gets back to his feet and contests, no problem there at all, but as Bath throw bodies in, he is knocked off balance and doesn't look like he is supporting his own weight (so therefore technically off his feet) and continues to play the ball briefly.

Borderline call as he had his hands on it before he was knocked off balance, but as I say had it been the other way I would have wanted the penalty for it, so no complaints from me.

That's about as fair a summing up as there ever was, ever considered a career as a copper? I reckon you could make it.

I'll give that some thought PJ

I was quite impressed with Banahan at 12 again. I thought Woodburn looked promising. Hape was underwhelming - it'll be interesting to see how LI's attacking game goes if Hape is going to be first choice 12, given the lack of a passing game. I hope JJ isn't too badly hurt. Lahiff was brilliant - Corbs has a real fight on his hands.

JJ is out for about 3 months apparently. I'd not seen Woodburn before, but he did look quite handy.

DaveM wrote:I was quite impressed with Banahan at 12 again. I thought Woodburn looked promising. Hape was underwhelming - it'll be interesting to see how LI's attacking game goes if Hape is going to be first choice 12, given the lack of a passing game. I hope JJ isn't too badly hurt. Lahiff was brilliant - Corbs has a real fight on his hands.

Banahan was the best 12 at Bath last year DaveM and he only had a handful of games there, he hasn't made the grade at Test level yet but a full season there with Bath may see him stake a strong claim for a regular England start, he has good hands, gets across the gainline consistently and makes room for his OC by either fixing defences or drawing in the extra tackler and offloading over the tacklers head with his Simian arms.

The two things against him as I see it are that he still hasn't got a step worth a mention and Barkley is on the road to recovery having played tonight for Bath United in the Aviva A League, they did get hockeyed by an impressive Chiefs side though so it could be a long road back for Ollie.

Hape started to look like he was going through the motions last season, and I did think at the time it was because he was moving on, but I'm not so sure now, it may well be that Irish have done Bath a big favour. I've never been a big fan of his at club level and I've never been supportive of him playing for England either, so maybe I'm jiust a bit partisan in my opinion of him?

Lahiff looks like he could turn out to be a total gem, according to Ozzy the roving v2 reporter he gave Perenise a good pumping, and for a 21 (?) year old with a handful of club appearances that's a little bit scary-monster - still, he's English so at the same time that's quite exciting.

but wins would be better, especially at home.

Hmmm. Incisive.

I have to say I hadnt realised Lahiff was english, but the more good young props that can come through the better!

Obviously Barkley had a really bad injury and will take time to get back into the swing of things, but surely he will come back into the 12 slot? I think Banahan has looked good at 13 in the past, although there is competition there from Hipkiss, Carraro and Williams.
I wonder if it will be a case of get your best players on the pitch never mind the position. Still, that depends on having a 100% fit squad to pick from and when has that ever happened?!

PJHolybloke wrote:
The two things against him as I see it are that he still hasn't got a step worth a mention and Barkley is on the road to recovery having played tonight for Bath United in the Aviva A League, they did get hockeyed by an impressive Chiefs side though so it could be a long road back for Ollie.

PJ, Barkley got pulled after 29mins of the A game, so either he's being saved for Saturday's game or had a further injury setback

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

PJHolybloke wrote:
The two things against him as I see it are that he still hasn't got a step worth a mention and Barkley is on the road to recovery having played tonight for Bath United in the Aviva A League, they did get hockeyed by an impressive Chiefs side though so it could be a long road back for Ollie.

PJ, Barkley got pulled after 29mins of the A game, so either he's being saved for Saturday's game or had a further injury setback

Asbo, I can't see him featuring against Quins so soon in his recovery so maybe they were just giving him a run out for half an hour, maybe first half next time, 60mins etc?

Looks like you've got yourselves a seriously good group of players down there, I've only read about the game to be fair as I only get to the Rec on high days and holidays, but all reports suggest the scoreline does not flatter Exeter United, it all looks quite promising for the future mate.

Good luck to you.

I think Banahan is going to make it as a 12, and that McGeechan will use him as he did Roberts for the Lions. Tough on Barkley though, but with an accomplished player like Donald at 10 I don't think Bath need a second play-maker.

Overall, come the 6 Nations the England coach will have: Banahan, Twelvetrees, Barritt, JTH, Farrell, Flutey and Tuilagi to pick from at 12 (many would add Allen, though I don't think he's talented enough to make up for his lack of size at international level), and Tuilagi, Trinder and JJ (many would add Lowe) at OC. Up to 8 options at IC, up to 4 at OC, almost certainly no Hape or Tindall - add in players like Daly, May and Addison who in years to come may compete for a centres berth and I'd say we're on the verge of declaring the England crisis at centre well and truely over.