The Bath Rugby Thread

[HERSH]

First topic message reminder :

The dedicated home of all things Bath Rugby,

Please feel free to discuss all things Bath related, so pull up a chair an have a quite drink among friends, mines a Bath Ales Dark Side please.

Other fans welcome but remember, play nicely.

[Bathite]

Is it on telly?

[sirtidychris]

Not that I know of but live text feed on premiershiprugby.tv and should have full match up on the site later on to watch

[HERSH]

What a Frak man sausage-up!

[HongKongCherry]

[HERSH]

Hey HKC is there anymore room at Glaws as I might be tempted to jump this sinking ship?

[HongKongCherry]

You'd be most welcome HERSH. We always like to help the unrighteous

[HERSH]

Maybe I'll wait too the end of the season to make my decision HKC

[yappysnap]

"Scott picked off Stephen Donald's telegraphed pass and had sufficient pace to hold off the cover for the match-winning try, which Gordon Ross converted. It was the only try in a desperately poor game and a draw would have been a fair result as neither side played well enough to deserve a win."

[HERSH]

Bath did look under cooked IMO, the coaches have to take their share of the blame for this one too.

Is Craig known for his patience?

[HongKongCherry]

Bath did look under cooked IMO, the coaches have to take their share of the blame for this one too.

Is Craig known for his patience?

I sincerely hope he is as I do not want the hire and fire mentality of wendy ball coming into the game, although Sale are doing their best to do this.

[gregortree]

Hersh, The Donald Telegraph !
and you say Bath rejected Burns for Donald , mwhahah

[HongKongCherry]

In fairness to them Donald was a signing to make the rugby world stand up and take notice

[gregortree]

[yappysnap]

In fairness to them Donald was a signing to make the rugby world stand up and take notice

Wasn't everyone doing this when they took notice...

[gregortree]

They noticed his 'telegraph' at the Kassam

[maestegmafia]

From BBC

London Welsh 16-9 Bath

LONDON WELSH (6) 16
Tries: Scott Cons: Ross Pens: Henson 2, Ross
BATH (3) 9
Pens: Donald 3


London Welsh staged a remarkable late comeback to defeat Bath and boost their hopes of Premiership survival.
Bath led 9-6 with two minutes remaining, but a Gordon Ross penalty levelled the scores.

And winger Nick Scott raced in from 70 yards in the final seconds to earn the Exiles their third league win.

Earlier, Gavin Henson and Stephen Donald had exchanged first-half penalties before an enthralling finish at the Kassam Stadium.

London Welsh remain 10th in the table but are now eight points clear of bottom club Sale Sharks, who picked up their first win of the campaign against second-bottom London Irish on Friday.

Before Scott's score, which came after he intercepted Donald's misplaced pass, the home side had rarely threatened the try line, while visitors Bath were unable to convert any of the chances they created.

Bath trailed 6-3 at half-time, with Henson slotting over two penalties to Donald's one, but the New Zealand international restored parity and then kicked his side ahead with a brace of penalties early in the second half.
It looked like being enough for victory, until Scott's late heroics sealed a first win for the Exiles over Bath since 1979.



VIEW FROM THE DRESSING ROOM

London Welsh head coach Lyn Jones:
"I can't quite believe it. We snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
"We've had a few hard lines in the last few weeks - a tough last-minute call against Saracens and we carelessly lost a bonus point last week against Wasps.
"We stuck in there and kept battling. Our effort was very good and our first-half performance was our best of the season.
"It's pleasing that we kept our line in tact as we conceded five tries against Leicester and six against Harlequins, but the penalties we gave away show that we are still a little bit immature."

Bath director of rugby Gary Gold:
"I'm astonished [with Donald's pass]. It was a rush of blood and a ridiculous pass.
"We had worked so hard to get into that position, as for 79 minutes we had been effective at holding onto the ball.
"We should have retained possession and, if needs be, go back into the pocket and drop a goal."

SUNDAY'S LINE-UPS

London Welsh: Arscott; Voyce, Tonga'uiha, Jewell, Scott; Henson, Keats; Montanella, Briggs, Ion; Purdy, Kulemin; Mills, Denbee, Beach.
Replacements: Ross for Henson (58), Bateman for Montanella (65), Jolly for Ion (64), Brown for Kulemin (77), Bristow for Denbee (77), Browne for Beach (58).
Not Used: Runciman, Lewis.

Bath: Abendanon; Eastmond, Banahan, Williams, Biggs; Donald, Claassens; James, Mears, Perenise; Day, Attwood; Hooper, Mercer, Skuse.
Replacements: Agulla for Banahan (58), Taylor for Day (57).
Not Used: Sharman, Beech, Palma-Newport, Ovens, McMillan, Vesty.

Referee: Andrew Small (RFU)
Attendance: 5,004

[PJHolybloke]

Jeez, a lot of LW fans around aren't there? Or are you fellas just closet footy fans?

Honestly,

[HERSH]

[maestegmafia]

PJ

I've been a London Welsh fan since the sixties. It's great to see them back in top flight rugby, if they can get a few more results like this they could well build on this next season and be a regular in the Premiership.

As a Bath RfC season ticket holder I got to enjoy both teams today.

Bath will get a good kick up the backside this week and will look to creep up the league as Tigers, Saries, Quins and Saints lose their England players.

[PJHolybloke]

Maesteg, I hope you don't think that was aimed at you?!

I did a bit of business with one of LW's back-rowers in the late 90's early 2000's, he was a recruitment consultant, Luke Jones I think was his name. Went out to the Old Deer Park to watch a couple of games and really enjoyed it - can't say the same about today though.

The fact is, Bath should, by now, be a good enough set-up to beat a club that's just been promoted from the Championship, particularly one that was promoted so late and with little chance to prepare for a season of attritional rugby.

The history books will show that LW have competed very well so far, against all the odds, and are in with a good shout of staying in the AP for another season. LW are gelling themselves into a very tough unit that refuse to be beaten until the final whistle has gone, barring the first couple of weeks or so, they've been a very creditable side and good luck to them for the rest of the season.

However, come March 30th, nothing less than total victory will make up for today's loss.

I'm meeting up with Risca Rev next Saturday for the Dragons game if you're interested? The Huntsman for about 12.30?

[Bathite]

Bath did look under cooked IMO, the coaches have to take their share of the blame for this one too.

Is Craig known for his patience?

Hate to say I told you so HERSH. All this chat about the winning bonus point was completely naive and disrespectful

[Bathite]

Hersh, The Donald Telegraph !
and you say Bath rejected Burns for Donald , mwhahah :laugh:

Burns rejected the contract because Glos offered him double the money and at the team we didn't need him, plus the fact he had the chance to play with his idol, Carlos Spencer. Glos have done really well to develop him and gave him the starting shirt he needed, he couldn't get anywhere near our first team whilst with us.

[sirtidychris]

Really surprised by this result....... got to be honest this was a match i was expecting us to win...I wonder how much psychology plays a part in these games with promoted teams not expected to win any matchs therefore they have nothing to lose and go out there week in and week out to prove everyone wrong, with a team full of former internationals in the last chance saloon and championship players wanting to savour every moment of the top flight ..... while at the back of the other teams minds they cant help but think they don't have to play as well to win....the result seems to be supposed whipping boys consistently causing upsets.

TBH i am a bit gutted by this loss....well done LW, credit where its due !

[LondonTiger]

Glos have done really well to develop him and gave him the starting shirt he needed, he couldn't get anywhere near our first team whilst with us.

to be fair Burns had only just left school when he signed pro terms with Glaws. To expect a 17 year old schoolboy to challenge Butch James and Olly Barkley would have been a big ask.

[Bathite]

Glos have done really well to develop him and gave him the starting shirt he needed, he couldn't get anywhere near our first team whilst with us.

to be fair Burns had only just left school when he signed pro terms with Glaws. To expect a 17 year old schoolboy to challenge Butch James and Olly Barkley would have been a big ask.

Exactly, so at the time, it wasn't really a big loss. Always a risk letting youngsters go, but the numbers show that loads more fail than prosper, but every club has that 'one that got away'

[LondonTiger]

Aye, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[sirtidychris]

Bath are crap at bringing youngsters through anyway, its only during the doomed tenure of Sir Ian, the we started to blood academy talent (heatcote, mercer, ovens, woodburn, catt, KPN etc) in the previous decade i think lee mears and olly barkley are the only local talent we brought through and mears had to be bloody patient to get his shot. Bath prefer buying 'star' players in for a few season then letting go rather than investing in youth and taking a punt, shame because we have a great academy and its the only way to get long term success, by blooding your youth. I guess its funny that we lost to a team on the weekend with 5 former bath players in !

[Bathite]

We've also missed out on Crane and Varndell from Colston's and let Burns go.

[HERSH]

Bath did look under cooked IMO, the coaches have to take their share of the blame for this one too.

Is Craig known for his patience?

Hate to say I told you so HERSH. All this chat about the winning bonus point was completely naive and disrespectful

Its not disrespectful to expect your team to win and win well.

[LondonTiger]

We've also missed out on Crane and Varndell from Colston's and let Burns go.

Not getting players who are at boarding schools is no surprise though. they are always quite likely to return to their "local" club.

[maestegmafia]

We've also missed out on Crane and Varndell from Colston's and let Burns go.

Tactically Bath let themselves down. Yesterday Henson dragged Donald into a kicking the ball fight, it was like ping pong, the rest of the team joined in too, Henson won with a bigger boot and more accuracy in 70% of his kicks.

Bath need to be more tactically astute during games. Pre match game plans can be adapted.

Yesterday Bath were killing welsh in the tight, at the scrum every single scrum in the second half resulted in a penalty to Bath.

Bit my or pitch noise vary the gameplan and they would have won.

[sirtidychris]

Starting to really think Donald may have been baths most pap signing since robbie fleck, massive wage, undermotivated, not that good and injured for his first season and the first 1/4 of his second season...Lets hope heathcote comes back all guns blazing and gives us a viable option at 10 as supposed to vesty and donald.

[HERSH]

I'd pay him off and get someone else in.

IMO we would have won yesterday if Barkley was playing No10.

[aucklandlaurie]

Agh the Stephen Donald we know....

[sirtidychris]

I'd pay him off and get someone else in.

IMO we would have won yesterday if Barkley was playing No10.

soo true

[HERSH]

On the plus side we did get a Bonus point

[HongKongCherry]

Hersh, The Donald Telegraph !
and you say Bath rejected Burns for Donald , mwhahah

Burns rejected the contract because Glos offered him double the money and at the team we didn't need him, plus the fact he had the chance to play with his idol, Carlos Spencer. Glos have done really well to develop him and gave him the starting shirt he needed, he couldn't get anywhere near our first team whilst with us.

I don't think the money had anything to do with it as an Academy contract is very limited in the cash stakes. From the interviews I've seen with him the main reason for joining Glaws was that we have a track record of blooding youngsters and Bath don't. Bath did let his brother Billy go who is now receiving pretty positive reviews from our academy.

[Bathite]

He got offered nearly double by Glos, that's a fact. Whether it was purely the cash, I don't know, but at 18, given the choice between say 15k and 25k, I know which one I would go for!

Also, the opportunity to play first team rugby was also huge, as he was stuck behind the current world cup winning 10, whereas you guys had just lost lamb I think and Carlos was about 34 wasn't he, so more chance to get the shirt.

Either way, very smart business by Glos!

[GavinDragon]

Could any Bath fans recommend a good rugby put in the town centre for Saturday, preferably one that is female friendly?

[GavinDragon]

a good rugby pub i meant, pref somewhere showing all the internationals

[PJHolybloke]

Every pub in Bath is a rugby pub GD, the Pulteney Arms is a good one, as is The Hunstman, the Huntsman is closer to the ground but tends to be hugely busy on matchdays, the Pulteney is slightly less crowded and has more TVs

However, given Bath's recent performances, I doubt it will be a big attendance on Saturday.

[Bathman_in_London]

Starting to really think Donald may have been baths most pap signing since robbie fleck, massive wage, undermotivated, not that good and injured for his first season and the first 1/4 of his second season...Lets hope heathcote comes back all guns blazing and gives us a viable option at 10 as supposed to vesty and donald.

Although Fleck has since been useful apparently in the signings of WP players, Louw,Watson, Dixon etc so that's something at least!

[GavinDragon]

cheers PJ

[Bathite]

Could any Bath fans recommend a good rugby put in the town centre for Saturday, preferably one that is female friendly?

Pulteney Arms all the way. Or the Royal Oak in Widcombe. Both cracking pubs with good food as well

[Taylorman]

Whats this? Donald throwing away a match at the death? Never...

[PJHolybloke]

Hey T-man, howsit?

Donald did OK last time he wore the Silver Fern... could you take him back now? Thanks.

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

Hey T-man, howsit?

Donald did OK last time he wore the Silver Fern... could you take him back now? Thanks.

Sorry PJ, I believe we wrote "no returns" on him.

Actually, on 2nd thoughts Tasman needs a fly half for next year's ITM as Leinster have poached Goodman. We could come to an arrangement where Bath pays 3/4 of his pay

[HERSH]

"Bath pays 3/4 of his pay"

Done

Just like we were!

[gregortree]

Gavin
Or a pub with friendly females....

anyone ?

[PJHolybloke]

Not for the likes of you Gregor, not in Barf.

Never! Never! Never!

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