The West Country Derby - Bath v Gloucester

Teams: Bath v Gloucester
Ground: The Rec
Date: 28/02/13
KO: 8pm
TV: ESPN

Teams:

BATH:

15. Nick Abendanon
14. Horacio Agulla
13. Matt Banahan
12. Kyle Eastmond
11. Tom Biggs
10. Tom Heathcote
9. Peter Stringer
1. Paul James
2. Rob Webber
3. David Wilson
4. Dominic Day
5. Dave Attwood
6. Francois Louw ( c )
7. Carl Fearns
8. Ben Skirving

Replacements
16. Ross Batty
17. Nathan Catt
18. Anthony Perenise
19. Will Spencer
20. Mat Gilbert
21. Michael Claassens
22. Sam Vesty
23. Semsea Rokoduguni

GLOUCESTER:

Rob Cook; Charlie Sharples, Henry Trinder, Mike Tindall (capt), Jonny May; Freddie Burns, Dan Robson; Nick Wood, Darren Dawidiuk, Rupert Harden; Lua Lokotui, Will James; Tom Savage, Akapusi Qera, Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements:
Huia Edmonds, Dan Murphy, Dario Chistolini, Peter Buxton, Andy Hazell, Dave Lewis, Ryan Mills, Martyn Thomas.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Freddie Burns returns for Glaws after injury had ruled him out the last five, whilst Hamilton, Twelvetrees, Morgan and Sinbad remain either on international duty or out injured.

Bath welcome back Paul James, David Wilson, Francois Louw and Matt Banahan. They will be looking to build on their recent thrashing of Glaws, at Kingsholm, in the LV cup.

Glaws on the other hand, will be looking to avenge that defeat and continue their impressive league run against Bath with 10 wins in the last 13, against the old foe. Bath's last league win against Glaws was as far back as December 2009.

As always I'm eagerly anticipating this clash. There is no doubt that Bath are an improved side, which at least makes these games more interesting! The LV game was rather humbling for Glaws, but as anyone who was there will testify the result was based largely on the flood of tries once the academy players were thrown on. This game will be a far better judge of the 2 teams.

Despite not winning many away games this season, there is no doubt Glaws are vastly improved on this front, highlighted by the fact we have taken at least 1 point in every game. With the injuries to the Glaws front 5, coupled with the full strength Bath front 5 I definitely feel they'll have the edge there. Despite the LV game Glaws have the confidence to know they can beat Bath at the Wreck; a repeat of the last Friday night game there would certainly not go a miss.

As always, to my Barbour wearing, Babycham swigging, prawn sandwich eating neighbours have a great night, but don't get too downhearted about the result!

Bravo HKC, well said, I enjoyed that.


Now you, hurry back to poundland, there's a sale on

Freddie Burns to steal the show on his come back, once again reminding Bath of their error in letting him slip, and keeping his name firmly in the six nations frame, possibly in time for a bench spot against Italy. 17-25 including 20 points for Freddie, entertaining game, only 1 try apiece but plenty of cider fuelled excitement under the lights.

Bathite wrote:Bravo HKC, well said, I enjoyed that.


Now you, hurry back to poundland, there's a sale on

Bathite, you can tell you're not a local. We don't get designer shops like that our way

Enjoy the game

Bathite wrote:Bravo HKC, well said, I enjoyed that.


Now you, hurry back to poundland, there's a sale on

Pft - I was in Hounslow the other day. 2 doors down from Poundland was "The 99p Shop". Couple of blocks furthe rdown cam "Sam's 97" with the slogan "Like Poundland but 3p cheaper".

But round the corner to top it all was "The 96p Store".

Who needs a sale at Poundland eh?

They are pretty selective the 96p stores, Gloucester might not be the sort of place to go with their brand image...

Having said that most gloucester fans seem to be cheltenham posh boys anyway, chartered accountants all week and then put on an accent at weekends to support the'boi's'.

Looks like 2 strong teams, should be a good game. I like the look of our pack, particularly with Hamilton out for Glaws. I wouldn't have minded if Burns wasnt playing either, maybe he is still a little rusty...

For our west midlands rivals.

Cheers Bathman. It's a shame I can't make the trip down to Swindon, but the traffic is murder in Cheltenham on a Friday...

Bathite wrote:Bravo HKC, well said, I enjoyed that.


Now you, hurry back to poundland, there's a sale on

http://www.nowbath.co.uk/local-news/poundland-opening-store-in-bath-46117/

Shame its next to one of the nicer pubs...

Nice pub on Westgate street? You need a lie down

Apologies, the ellipsis was my attempt at conveying irony but it can be quite tricky to do in text.

Looking forward to this as always. Couple of strong starting 15's selected, feel the Cherries just shade it in the backs but Bath are stronger all across the forwards including the backrow. Don't feel that either bench is particularly 'match changing' strong so they kind of cancel each other out there. I feel the Bath strength up front, added to them being at home means I'm saying a home win in this one. Feel if Gloucester are to stand any chance of victory then Freddy Burns will have to turn in a top performance, which is a big ask for a player returning from a few weeks out. Still, wouldn't be overly shocked if he pulled it off as he certainly has the ability.

What's happened to Stephen Donald? Is he injured or that bad now that he has fallen behind Sam Vesty as the backup 10?

Donald's injured, but he is also 'that bad'!

Front 5 I'm a bit worried that Bath are looking stronger, however, outwide I can see Tindall keeping Eastmond quiet, hope Burns hits the ground running as well coming back.

Huge game, I feel that if we win this then we'll stay in the top 4....lose and we get sucked into the battle for h.cup again.

C'mon Glaws

Bathite wrote:Donald's injured, but he is also 'that bad'!

I actually thought he would do okay in the prem when the signing was first announced - shows what I know.

Think Bath will win this one, their pack and defense just seems nastier then those soft Gloucester boys. Glos need to get some South Africans in there pronto!!

The fancy dans of Gloucester vs the Tough nuts of Bath?

Don't be fooled into thinking all Gloucester players are the same as Teague LT...

Regardless of the result, it's a huge measure of what Gold has done to the team that so many others now see our pack as competitive. For the last two years, we probably had the most powderpuff set in the league.

Given that Donald is mentioned here I was wondering whether those of you who've seen more of him playing think its down to him not being that good or being told to play to a game plan that doesn't suit him.

He strikes me a player who likes to play with the ball in hand but the games I've seen this year he seems to be playing by numbers and just kicking (badly).

Like the rest of you while I wasn't bouncing round the room when I saw he'd signed I thought he would be much better than he's turned out.

Bathite wrote:Regardless of the result, it's a huge measure of what Gold has done to the team that so many others now see our pack as competitive. For the last two years, we probably had the most powderpuff set in the league.

Tbh I don't know how much is Gold and how much is Louw, you look a totally different team with him back. Probably the signing of the last couple of seasons, just a shame (for you!) that SA won't leave him alone.

Louw is immense, but it's the front five that have improved moreso. Huge credit to Paul James for that and Dom Day has come up and done a great job, with Webber starting strongly as well

twoeightnine wrote:Given that Donald is mentioned here I was wondering whether those of you who've seen more of him playing think its down to him not being that good or being told to play to a game plan that doesn't suit him.

He strikes me a player who likes to play with the ball in hand but the games I've seen this year he seems to be playing by numbers and just kicking (badly).

Like the rest of you while I wasn't bouncing round the room when I saw he'd signed I thought he would be much better than he's turned out.

I think it's a combination of a few things.

1. He arrived seriously unfit, then got injured. He's been injured and unfit pretty much since he joined, so hasn't had a run of games or even been at his peak.
2. He doesn't really fit into our gameplan, his kicking game is average, as is his place kicking. His defence is also questionable
3. His attitude seems to stink, just doesn't seem up for it.
4. Combine all of these and you see why the fans are p issed off, i'm sure players are as well, knowing he's on £250k, so that can't help his confidence.

What should have been a decent game completely ruined as a spectacle by constant speculative trips upstairs to the TMO. Just because it is available doesn't mean that every stoppage requires 101 slow motion replays. RFU/PRL/whoever, sort it out. Also, how the TMO can award a forward pass to disallow a try from a camera angle behind play is beyond me! That was nothing more than a blind guess. If we do insist on using the TMO lets at least have correct decisions reached. I have no idea if the pass was forward or not, it looked pretty much flat to me, but it's a big call to disallow a try on such slim evidence.

Some of these decisions could have gone either way and the result was overly affected by these decisions, which is a shame. The penalty try for Bath, disallowed try for Gloucester and red card for Gloucester were all very tight calls and that they all went the same way probably had a decisive impact on the result. It would be nice if that hadn't been so, but sometimes it happens. Bath won't mind, Gloucester will be disappointed.

Burns looked threatening on his comeback, but it's a shame he didn't have his kicking boots on. Perhaps an after effect of his knee injury? He has been so reliable off the tee this season and to miss 4 in less than a half, 3 of which were very makable, is unlike him. Hopefully just an off day and won't affect his England chances.

Eastmond looked dangerous for Bath, as did May and Trinder for Gloucester. Both scrumhalves were very good, and the Bath front 5 were strong.

All in all quite a frustrating match, had hoped for the players to have the decisive impact.

Penalty try fair call. (YC for Shgarples harsh though - surely 7pts is penalty enough)

disallowed try - definitely a forward pass. the ball travelled forward (though that is no longer strictly relevant) and Mays hands never got into a backwards passing position. Plus it could then still have been disallowed for the second part of the refs query - knock on close to the line.

Red card felt harsh to me.



From a enutrals point of view I felt Bath were comfortably better than Gloucester and only their lack of precision prevented that being a thumping.

HERSH, I find my self bowing to you again. It was a great game which Bath deserved to win, at least this time we turned up!

Considering the players we had missing and then the loss of Harden and Dawiduik I thought we did very well to compete and once again get something out of the game. I can completely understand why Sharples and Daffy were carded, both could have gone either way but that's the rub of the green. The injury of Harden is worrying especially with Knight still out, but with a few weeks to rest hopefully we'll be at near enough full strength soon. We've taken 11 points out of 15 from this block of 4 games which included 2 derbies and 2 top 6 teams, so that's not a bad return. We still need to gel more, but in general I'm quite positive about the run in.

I actually missed this due to a friend's birthday night, so recorded, avoided the internet and watched this morning.

Bath played better but they really should've won more convincingly, seeing as we were down to 14 for a large period of the game (Sharples & Dawidiuk). I thought the Sharples yellow was harsh, he grabbed Biggs as the ball bounced towards his hands and let go almost instantly. A PT fair enough, but a sin bin as well?

Interesting red card, Bath player was lifted about 6 inches of the ground - not dropped on his head at all. Ref went to the TMO for any remotely dubious Glaws play which was frustrating.

Shame Freddie didn't have his kicking boots on. I am bitter and tired.

Slightly behind but I think it was a good game from both teams, despite the refs best intents to blow his whistle at every opportunity. Would have been good for a neutral viewer though.

Overall I thought Bath deserved to win, but if Burns/Cook had thier kicking boots on it could have been different. A bit annoyed we didnt get the BP, we didn't push home the advantage enough, although part of that was good play from Glaws.

Bathite wrote:Louw is immense, but it's the front five that have improved moreso. Huge credit to Paul James for that and Dom Day has come up and done a great job, with Webber starting strongly as well

I saw the game on Friday, and James appears to have really bolted the Bath front row. Excellent performance from him, and surely he should be starting for Wales. Was impressed by Wilson too. The lad's surely got it, but never has a chance to show it for England.

Bathman_in_London wrote:Slightly behind but I think it was a good game from both teams, despite the refs best intents to blow his whistle at every opportunity. Would have been good for a neutral viewer though.

Overall I thought Bath deserved to win, but if Burns/Cook had thier kicking boots on it could have been different. A bit annoyed we didnt get the BP, we didn't push home the advantage enough, although part of that was good play from Glaws.

Totally agree Bathman. It was a great game that was interrupted too often by the ref. Bath deserved the win, but I also feel we deserved the LBP.

I've been a bit annoyed with some of the whingeing comments by some Glaws fans on other sites about James' scrummaging. He was clearly driving at an angle, however, any prop worth their salt will try to fool the ref and if he is not being pinged for it then full credit to James. I'm fairly certain that if the ref had taken control and got James to scrummage straight he would have still got the measure of Chistolini, who you can't fault for effort, but he is simply never going to be anything more than a 3rd/4th choice backup. Part of our recent winning streak over Bath has been down to our superiority in the front 5, I fear the tide may have shifted!

Thanks for the honest match review HKC. Haven't seen any of the game yet, hoping to tonight. Sounds like red card and Harden injuries were the difference.

Is it just me or have there been a lot of 'controversial' tries and TMO decision in the prem in recent weeks? Seem to be more penalty tries at least

I think you deserved the LBP too HKC.

As you say, props do whatever they can until they get pinged, a bit of a lesson for our lad I think. I like our front row of James, Webber and Wilson all quality players on the edges of international rugby without being superstars. With Attwood and Day behind there is some power there too.

A question, does Cook wear as small shorts as possible or is it just his odd technique which makes it look that way!?

Bathite - the dominance in the scrum came to the fore when Harden went off, but I'd say up to that point Bath's pack were still looking the stronger. Glaws just seem a bit slow starting in recent months. Re the TMO, the penalty try was definite, the yellow was a bit harsh, but it was the letter of the law. I can fully understand why Dawiduik was red carded, but I would hoping any citing would take into account the genuine intent of the tackle. I thought Flood's was far worse. I'd feel very aggrieved if he got anymore than a 2 week ban. Personally I am a fan of the new TMO laws, but they just need to be refined a bit. It should only be for the last phase and there should be a time limit to make a decision, if one is not made then it is simply referred after the game as the traditional way.

Bathman - I think it's Cook kicking stance that makes him look like he's wearing the shorts of a 12 year old! Having said that I'd imagine his kicking style has built muscle in his buttocks making him have a prop sized backside!