The Bath Rugby Thread

by HERSH Wed Aug 15, 2012 1:37 pm

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. guinness

Other fans welcome but remember, play nicely.

by **LondonTiger** Fri Nov 23, 2012 10:02 pm

Sinckler came on in the 71st minute - so not much of a run out.

by formerly known as Sam Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:07 pm

It's not dissimilar from what we saw Goode doing for England. In fact, they almost certainly stole the idea from us!

Geordan has been playing like that for a decade at Tigers. Eastmond could do similar, Abendanon is a bit of a fan favourite at the wreck though. How would you guys take his ousting to bring on Eastmond?

by Bathite Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:00 am

Bendy won't lose his spot, he's one of the best fbs in the league. One of the best attackers and solid in defence, only the lazy fan questions his defence these days. Tonight a grea example of that. Can't see the murphy comparison personally, great player, great footballer, but doesn't have eastmonds style of nimble pacey feet. Most likely see eastmond at 13 I'd say, outside banners or Williams or at 12 with hipkess or roko outsid him

by HongKongCherry Sat Nov 24, 2012 10:20 am

Bathite wrote:Bendy won't lose his spot, he's one of the best fbs in the league. One of the best attackers and solid in defence, only the lazy fan questions his defence these days. Tonight a grea example of that. Can't see the murphy comparison personally, great player, great footballer, but doesn't have eastmonds style of nimble pacey feet. Most likely see eastmond at 13 I'd say, outside banners or Williams or at 12 with hipkess or roko outsid him

I would like to question Bendy's defence... Wink

Surprised by the intensity of the Bath pack last night, I was expecting Quins to dominate the breakdown but it was the other way round typified when you turned them over at the end of the match. It may have been a deserved win, but along with the Worcester result it has ruined my Super Bru weekend!

by Bathman_in_London Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:54 am

So Tom Biggs has been called up to the England squad, you would imagine he won't get a game, but still, well done Biggsy! Good to know coaches actually watch the premiership!

by Bathite Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:10 am

I agree Bathman. I think Wade is probably a better option for England long term, but Biggs has been outstanding in attack and defence for 18 months now

by Bathman_in_London Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:31 am

You are right long term and I'm sure Wade will end up with more caps than Biggs, but its good to know that he is on the England coaches radar anyway.

by Bathite Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:58 am

Except we really need him a lot more than England do!

by HERSH Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:37 pm

Anyone else feel sorry for Heathcote?

by Bathman_in_London Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:59 pm

I do, firstly he was fast tracked into the Scottish team after playing a couple of LV games and some A league rugby, so he isnt exactly on form. Then after coming on when Scotland are imploding, the man who sold him the idea that Scotland would be the better long term option quits...

Sadly I just think that this means long term he is more likely to leave. The new coach is very unlikely to be a Bath resident who is father of some of his ex team-mates, so if he's frozen out he might have to go up there to gain more caps.

Thankfully he signed a new deal last year, so hopefully during that time he can see that he can do both.

by Scrumpy Mon Nov 26, 2012 7:19 pm

I'm sure Tom will earn more caps for Scotland, but it wasn't a great way to start your International career.

Really hoping he stays at Bath

by PJHolybloke Mon Nov 26, 2012 7:34 pm

Hey Victor, welcome to 606.

The only concern I have is that the SRFU will try to persuade him to move across ther border, it's bad enough watching Freddie do the business for the shedders each week without having to watch another potential great slip away from the Rec.

He's made his mind up that he wants to play international rugby for Scotland, and being a big boy, I'm sure he knows the score. Let's be honest, it's not a position that Scotland have as queue forming for, and Duncy Weir is not streets ahead of Heathcote in terms of development and/or experience.

Whatever other people have written about Scotland and their AI performances, I'm still 100% convinced that they've enough talent for a very good 32 man training squad, and plenty of talent for a matchday 22 that will test any of the other 6N teams home or away.

If the SRFU get their fingers out and make a world class coaching appointment, look out for the Jocks, because they will be taking names.

Good luck Tom, and please don't leave us. Hug

by Bathite Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:10 pm

Two signings for Bath announced today!

Guinaza, the Argie Hooker / Prop and Gilbert, an English back rower

http://www.bathrugby.com/news/team-news/bath-rugby-bolster-pack-with-two-new-signings

by Bathman_in_London Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:20 pm

Hmm, so which hooker is off I wonder? Maybe Sharman as he was only ever a short term signing.

I wonder if any Scarlets fans have any thoughts about Gilbert? A slight kick in the teeth for Mercer and Ovens now that Koster and Gilbert have been signed.

by Bathite Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:24 pm

Bit of confusion on the hooker situation.

Sharman, almost certainly off as only on short term
Mears, out of contract, but pretty certain he's staying
Webber, England's #2 #2, contract for 2 more years, yet to play due to injury
Batty, probably 4th choice, but contracted until 2014
Guinaza, Arg #1 #2, will challenge Mears for now, but when Webber gets back we will have three quality hooking options. Althought Guin and Webber will be called up for ints. Having said all of this, there's rumour that Guin also plays prop, but I can't confirm and don't know which side. If it was TH, i'd be over the moon!

by ScarletSpiderman Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:49 am

Bathman_in_London wrote:Hmm, so which hooker is off I wonder? Maybe Sharman as he was only ever a short term signing.

I wonder if any Scarlets fans have any thoughts about Gilbert? A slight kick in the teeth for Mercer and Ovens now that Koster and Gilbert have been signed.

Gilbert is a very good and solid number 8/blindside. A real grafting sort of backrower, but he also has pretty good hands etc. He was a very good deputy to Ben Morgan for us, and I think he will most likely be pushing for a full time contract comet he end of the season, and if he doesn't get one I thinkt here will be fans grumbling on here (the same as when the scarlets let him go).

by Bathite Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:08 am

Surprising really, as we have Koster just signed as 8 as well, who sounds very similar. But i'm pretty sure that Skirving, Taylor, Ovens and Mercer are all out of contract at the end of the season, so there may well be a shake up.

Good luck to Gilbert, he sounds like a fan's favourite and I always love a grafter. Let's hope his energy into getting a full time contract means he puts in some awesome performance for us, as it looks like Fearns is out injured for a while now.

Thanks Spiderman

by Bathman_in_London Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:56 am

On the hooker front, having a choice of Mears with 40 odd caps and a Lions tour, Webber as a current EPS member and the current Argentininan no.2 sounds like a pretty good squad to me. No superstars with expensive contracts, but still some very good players.

Sadly it does sound like Fearns is going to be out for a while again (he's not having much luck is he?), so a hard grafter sounds like a very good replacement to me. Skirving played out of his skin when he was looking for a new contract a season or so ago, lets hope Gilbert does the same!

by Bathite Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:20 pm

Bathite wrote:Bit of confusion on the hooker situation.

Sharman, almost certainly off as only on short term
Mears, out of contract, but pretty certain he's staying
Webber, England's #2 #2, contract for 2 more years, yet to play due to injury
Batty, probably 4th choice, but contracted until 2014
Guinaza, Arg #1 #2, will challenge Mears for now, but when Webber gets back we will have three quality hooking options. Althought Guin and Webber will be called up for ints. Having said all of this, there's rumour that Guin also plays prop, but I can't confirm and don't know which side. If it was TH, i'd be over the moon!

Looking at Guinaza's ESPN Scrum stats, he's started his last 9/10 games at hooker for Argentina, but before that, was used pretty regularly as a loosehead, normally as a sub, probably behind Roncero. I guess he played prop when Ledesma was fit and LH when Roncero was unavailable. No shame in being worse than those two modern day scrummager legends!

http://www.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/player/14165.html?class=1;template=results;type=player;view=match

I wonder if anyone knows where he played at club level?

by Bathman_in_London Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:04 pm

Bath Rugby team to face Leicester Tigers

15 Nick Abendanon

14 Kyle Eastmond

13 Horacio Agulla

12 Matt Banahan

11 Tom Biggs

10 Stephen Donald

9 Michael Claassens

1 Paul James

2 Lee Mears

3 Anthony Perenise

4 Stuart Hooper ( c )

5 Dave Attwood

6 Francois Louw

7 Guy Mercer

8 Simon Taylor

Replacements

16 Brett Sharman

17 Charlie Beech

18 Kane Palma-Newport

19 Dominic Day

20 Josh Ovens

21 Mark McMillan

22 Tom Heathcote

23 Jack Cuthbert

Probably about as strong a team as it could be considering injuries, good to see Mercer being rewarded for playing well against Quins. If there is a good time to play Leicester, its now when their players are away!

by sirtidychris Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:22 pm

Very good team but as with everygame there are new combinations across the back line which is essentailly formed by wingers !

by Scrumpy Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:42 pm

I can see Bath winning this game.

by formerly known as Sam Fri Nov 30, 2012 2:13 pm

Tigers team:

1. Ayerza
2. Chuter
3. Castro
4. Deacon
5. Kitchener
6. Deacon
7. Salvi
8. Waldrom
9. Harrison
10. Ford
11. Morris
12. Allen
13. Smith
14. Thompstone
15. Tait

by Scrumpy Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:12 am

How did Nick Koster do?

by Bathite Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:43 am

Scored a wonder try apparently! Almost full length of pitch. I wasn't at the game and don't think there are any highlights, but the fans forum seemed pretty pleased

by Bathman_in_London Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:32 am

Someone must have a youtube highlights reel?!

Apparently Koster looked good, and as Bathite says, scored a bit of a wonder try.
Agulla looked good too apparently.

We were playing a team equivalent to Bristol though...

by Scrumpy Thu Dec 13, 2012 10:14 am

I still haven't seen anything from the game. Sad

Its tough being a rugby fan sometimes.

by Bathite Thu Dec 13, 2012 11:36 am

Saw Agulla's second try, it was a beaut! Stepped through the line, swerved the cover, chipped over the FB, caught on full and scampers over! Awesome

by yappysnap Mon Dec 17, 2012 8:06 pm

Looks like you boys may be signing Jonathan Joseph from LI, guess Booth has had a word with him and Smith may see him as a luxury in a side struggling just to get away from relegation and where defence is a major issue.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-2248767/Jonathan-Joseph-lined-Bath-move.html

Would be a good move if it did happen. Who would you have at 12 though to protect him?

by Scrumpy Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:02 am

Bathite wrote:Saw Agulla's second try, it was a beaut! Stepped through the line, swerved the cover, chipped over the FB, caught on full and scampers over! Awesome

Where did you see that?

by Bathman_in_London Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:05 am

I can't believe Bath would be the only team after him though.

The thing is, we do have quite a few players who can play 13, hipkiss, Eastmond, Agulla, Roko. So I hope we won't be throwing money at a player who won't be there half the season.

At 12 we have either Banahan or Williams who are both pretty solid, so I should think he would be protected well enough?

by Bathman_in_London Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:08 am

http://www.bathrugby.com/news/club-news/brtv-calvisano-highlights

This should be the tries of the first game?

by Bathite Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:32 pm

VictorU3 wrote:
Bathite wrote:Saw Agulla's second try, it was a beaut! Stepped through the line, swerved the cover, chipped over the FB, caught on full and scampers over! Awesome

Where did you see that?

It was the only highlight in a 15 second clip on the Sky Sports - European Rugby Special. It's mainly HEC rugby, but theres a v ery short AMlin round up

by yappysnap Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:03 pm

From all the rumours flying round and another article that I read it seems like Joseph is keen to leave LI and Booth is in talks with him, and that Smith wants to A. reshuffle the backs to his own choices and B. cut a few costs in the backs so that he can strengthen the pack (which is then oddly losing Corbs).

by Scrumpy Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:31 pm

Gold gets grumpy at speculation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/20781345

by PJHolybloke Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:15 am

So Grewcock v Harrison for Flats' testimonial, does anyone see that going past the first round? chin

I wonder where the smart money will go? Headscratch

by Bathman_in_London Thu Dec 20, 2012 11:21 am

Harrison is a good sport for agreeing to that fight! Maybe he has a secret boxing past!
Although bambi on ice after 1 punch seems more likely...

by PJHolybloke Fri Dec 21, 2012 8:05 am

I think Harrison is a little bit nuts accepting it, I guess it's the uber competetive Aussie coming out in him. I just don't see competetive being enough though.

by Scrumpy Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:16 pm

Looks like Bath have hit a new low - 0pts!

I wasn't expecting a win but come on lads sort it out.

by formerly known as Sam Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:55 pm

Worrying times for Bath. In the depths of winter they have no functioning kicking game. Donald seems to have some dirt on Gold, can't think of another reason he'd play the full 80 in such awful form.

by yappysnap Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:13 pm

What was that Bath?! How can you betray the rest of the top four and let Sarries win so easily????

Shame on you!! Whistle

by Scrumpy Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:06 pm

If I had Craig's money I'd pay Donald off now, I'd even buy him a 1st class ticket to NZ.

Yapp sorry about that.

by HongKongCherry Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:17 pm

Yappy, I think that's very harsh of you, it was clear they tried their best Wink

by yappysnap Sat Dec 22, 2012 11:37 pm

Yea their best was certainly interesting. I hope they play to their best against Quins aswell!

I think its probably more then just Donalds fault though, unless the game plan was to only let Donald play...

by PJHolybloke Sun Dec 23, 2012 7:13 pm

HERSH isn't around any more fellas, so yers can feck off with yer puerile insults. Very Happy

It was a distinctly poor performance, the only saving grace for me is that I didn't pay to watch it in the rain.

Two things bother me about the way Bath have played this season, the first is that the gameplan does appear to be a little limited, the second is that the players don't seem to be able to execute a limited gameplan.

I suppose we have to be patient and see what happens with the current group of coaches when they can start adding players of their own choice to the squad. One thing is for sure though, if you can't chase a kick, there's little hope for you.

by Scrumpy Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:31 pm

So we're after Toby Faletau or so it seems, is there any truth behind this?

by Effervescing Elephant Fri Jan 04, 2013 9:26 am

Hello Bath chaps, just like to thank all the travelling fans for last Saturday at Sandy Park. Brilliant atmosphere and some fantastic banter with the Bath fans. clap

I noticed some disquiet and a few shouts of turncoat (play on words i assume) when young Tom Heathcote came on. Is there a general feeling of disappointment at his decision to 'go Jock'? I didn't notice any malice or venom from the Bath faithful but the chaps i spoke to seemed to feel let down by his decision but wished him well. Great attitude i think!

by AsLongAsBut100ofUs Fri Jan 04, 2013 10:06 am

If Heathcote is the alternative to Donald Duck, if I was a Barf fan, after the first half of last weekend I'd have been welcoming him with open arms!

by Effervescing Elephant Fri Jan 04, 2013 10:26 am

He was truly awful, don't think he could get to grips with the wind at SP atall. Resorting to sliced 'banana' kicks to ensure touch. Can't believe they waited that long to bring Heatchcote on, so much more zip from him. Excellent young player.

by PJHolybloke Fri Jan 04, 2013 10:29 pm

From my point of view, and I don't think it differs much from the Bath majority, I'm happy that Tom has been shown recognition for his efforts and undoubted quality, I also think he will benefit from being involved in an international squad.

However, I think there is always the possibility that the SRFU will try and tempt him to play his club rugby north of the border, and that would be a massive disappointment, not to mention loss. The last talented young 10 Bath let go is currently conducting the orchestra for the knuckle-draggers up at Castle Grim, it doesn't get much worse than that, other than to lose another one...

I can't wait for Beaver to move on to be honest, he's by far and away the worst bit of business Bath have done in the last 2 decades, he's a dud and then some. He quite literally threw the game away against LW and has been so bad with the boot on occasions you could be excused for thinking he was kicking bags of cement. He's been unfit, overweight and underacheiving since he arrived, he's showing no prospects of improvement, and hogging 300k of Bath's salary cap, there is absolutely nothing good I can think of to say about the bloke, apart from au revoir perhaps?

Asbo, see you soon bud.

by Sponsored content