Bath v Sale Sharks
10th November 2002

The Sharks were duly culled at the weekend and the sigh of relief could be heard echoing around the Recreation ground for some time after the final whistle.

Sub-editors across the land had to quickly re-write their “Shark attack” headlines as Bath came through the tough encounter as victors. Though Sale did score first, in the first five minutes, the deluge that some expected never came and it was a tight game throughout. Typical of the nature of the Premiership this year.

Sharks wing Steve Hanley crossed the line almost immediately to put the visitors on the board and though scrum half Nick Walshe missed the conversion, Bath did not need reminding that this would be a tough one.

Bath were able to put a lot of pressure on the Sale defence in the ensuing minutes though were unable to find a way through the wall and eventually had to opt to kick at goal to avoid leaving with no points. Olly Barkley did not need persuading and after 12 minutes, Bath were also on the score-board.

Tom Voyce has not been playing the rugby we know he’s capable of in recent weeks but looked determined not to let us forget and burst through the Sharks defence five minutes later to put Bath into the lead for the first time in the game.

With Barkley missing the conversion, Walshe cut out the deficit but missed his next shot, another conversion, to leave home team playing catch-up, 8-15, at half time.

The tension certainly mounted after the break! Barkley missed a couple of early penalties which could have put Bath right back in the match. Fortunately, Simon Danielli was having the best game we’ve seen from him in a while and threatened several times, Michael Foley describing his performance as “inspirational.”

He intercepted a Leeds pass and got caught up in a race for the line. Referee Ashton-Jones adjudged that Danielli would have won the race had he not been tackled without the ball. He awarded a penalty try, which meant the easiest kick of the afternoon for Barkley and entering the final quarter, Bath led 18-15.

Barkley had another chance soon after when Walshe was sin-binned. No danger of forgetting what he looked like – he was only off for eight minutes! 

Danielli made another break minutes before the end and it almost looked like Sale had not heeded their warning with another similar offence. With three minutes of injury time played, Chris Malone looked to have deprived the visitors of their bonus point though in the dying moments the Sharks were awarded a penalty which was within Walshe’s range thus leaving the final score 24-18.

Jim Mallinder would only say that he was “disappointed” and whilst he felt that the penalty try was “fair,” he felt that his side “couldn’t impose authority” following the incident.

As for the Bath coaches, Foley felt that that the “guts typified the performances of this year so far,” and Brian Smith was pleased with “the fire in the belly of our side.”

He paid particular praise to Olly Barkley and Alex Crockett who he believes are “fighting well above their weight.”

Bath travel to Kingston Park next week to take on the Newcastle Falcons.

Rowen Whittle