Bath v Gloucester
28th September 2002

Bath put in another excellent second half performance on Saturday to deny first-placed Gloucester the four points they had been hoping for this time.

Bath had trailed for much of the game though as has happened several times already this season, they made a terrific come-back in the second half and few would have been surprised if they had snatched a victory in the closing minutes.

The home side showed immediately that they would not simply lie down and take the defeat; Chris Malone scored a drop goal in the opening three minutes to get the fist points on the board. Similarly though, Gloucester hinted at the pace and imagination that sees them unbeaten so far this season as James Simpson-Daniel burst past both Bath centers.

Ludovic Mercier replied shortly afterwards from a penalty for collapsing the scrum. With Bath under some pressure, Mercier had another two shots, missing one, as Gloucester looked to stretch their lead.

The visitors scored their first try through James Forrester just inside the first quarter, though that was it for them in the first half. By the interval, Olly Barkley had narrowed the gap to just two points as pressure from Bath had resulted in errors from the Gloucester backs. The score was 9-11 at half-time.

Mercier was having a rare off-day with the boot and with such a narrow margin Gloucester did not want to risk losing any more scoring opportunities. Consequently Henry Paul took the kicking duties off his hands in the second half after Mercier missed another shot.

Paul continued the scoring for the Cherry and Whites crossing the line himself in the 63rd minute. Again, the break had been made by Andy Gomersall. Paul converted to add another two points to his tally. With the scores at 12-21, it looked for a time as if the narrow-defeat bonus would be Bath’s only reward. Not so; this is a resilient side that won’t give up now and the Bath team battled on.

Bath’s try-drought continued though, but Barkley was able to keep Bath in touch through his penalty goals. He hadn’t missed all afternoon and tied the scores at 21-21 in the last minutes of the game to give Bath a deserved two points. Bath sustained their pressure in the dying minutes in what was their best chance to score a try, though referee Steve Leyshon did not follow in the footsteps of other Premiership officials and added only a modest amount of extra time.

Gloucester’s performance was not the polished article one would have expected from a top-of-the-table side, especially considering their match against Bristol the previous week. Credit then to Bath for not giving them the chances. Homework had been done and it showed.

So, the record remains intact; Gloucester have never won at the Rec in the fifteen years of league history, thanks to another determined Bath performance.

Alex Crockett had an excellent game partnering Mike Tindall in the center and was awarded the Man of the Match title. It’ll be a head-ache for Mike Foley this week deciding who to play as Kevin Maggs returns from international duty, but one he surely won’t mind!

Rowen Whittle