As I left the house for work yesterday, I was greeted with snow and hail, so I kept my fingers crossed that the bad weather would blow itself out in time for the rugby. As I arrived at the Rec a snowstorm was blowing across Bath, but thankfully the bad weather was blown away by the strong winds that brought in bright sunshine.

London Irish came out fighting, and played most of the rugby for the first 15 minutes. After a great shove from the Bath pack after the first scrum, Daniel Browne simultaneously picked up an injury and gave away a penalty, which resulted in an Irish lineout. With Sean Davey playing advantage as Bath were slowing down the ball, the penalty was kicked to give London Irish a three point lead. The points were wiped out straightaway by the start of a good kicking display by Olly Barkley. We saw many great breaks from players such as Crockett, Fuimaono-Sapolu and Jonny Fantastic but it was Stephenson who was the beneficiary of a looping pass that resulted in a dive towards the line. The conversion was missed and the Exiles responded with a penalty to take the score to 8-6.

After an injury to David Flatman, Duncan Bell made a brief, but very welcome appearance. Fuimaono-Sapolu demonstrated his power and strength with assistance from Barkley, who went on to kick Bath’s next three points. After a tit-for-tat sin binning, both teams lost a player and gained three points. At the start of the second half, I feared that Irish would come out firing, but we were treated to a frankly sublime score from Matt Banahan, started from Nick Abendanon underneath our posts, and which stretched the length of the pitch, giving the backs a chance to display their skills. If Sky doesn’t give that the Try of the Month, it will be a scandal. Actually, if they don’t award it the Try of the Season, it will be a scandal!

The conversion was missed, as were many forward passes and offside offences by London Irish. Sean Davey really didn’t cover himself in glory today. Cold hands from Bath squandered too many chances and they must be thankful that the wind that accompanied it blew Hickey off target and he missed two penalty chances. The last 10 minutes were all London Irish, and Bath missed the chance to really put the game to bed. The lineout became very shaky and Irish capitalised on it when they were close to the tryline. Broadfoot snatched an important try for London Irish, and they piled on the pressure, whilst Bath kicked the ball away when they really needed to simply retain possession.

The old adage that points on the board are more important than games in hand was disregarded by Bath today, as they topped the Guinness Premiership. They can count themselves lucky, but the 30 seconds of utter beauty that lead to Banahan’s try wipes out all memory of those tense last eight or so minutes, when a London Irish comeback looked on the cards. Some criticism will no doubt come their way, but a win is a win, and the top of the Premiership is the top of the Premiership! I’m off now to celebrate a friend’s birthday in Bath, but part of me will be celebrating a fascinating and fantastic position for Bath Rugby.

Referee: Sean Davey

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