Terrible wet and muddy conditions, reminiscent of the Glawster game at The Rec, made it difficult to play any sort of attacking rugby and, at times, Bath may have tried to be too adventurous and paid the penalty. Charlie Hodgson took advantage of the conditions and Bath struggled to manage his kicking game, missing too many high kicks consequently putting them on the back foot throughout the game.

Despite a mistake at the kick-off, which saw a scrum given to Bath, Sale scored three points within a few moments as Bath set the tone for the game and conceded a penalty that the Sale fly-half slotted home. Hodgson added another penalty after eight minutes. Shaun Berne then added to Bath's early woes by kicking the restart straight in to touch, this after he's kicked the first re-start in to the Sale in-goal area. Berne was offered the opportunity to make amends with an immediate difficult penalty from half-way but the ball fell short of the target.

Berne reduced the deficit to three points after 13 minutes from a penalty that followed an excellent rolling maul from the visitors. Ollie Barkley replaced Shaun Berne after 20 minutes when the Aussie took a knock to his face and David Flatman also replaced Duncan Bell. Bath started to string good moves together and Andrew Higgins managed to defy the conditions as he glided through the Sale defence, unfortunately this didn't result in anything other than a moral victory.

Just as the game was getting bogged down by the conditions Charlie Hodgson grabbed a drop goal knowing his side was to be awarded a penalty after 35 minutes to make the score 9-3. Three minutes later Sale got a try when Andrew Higgins couldn't keep hold of a Hodgson high swirling kick and Oriol Ripol was on hand to touch down. Hodgson defied the rain to score his conversion to make the score 16-3 at half-time.

After failing to take advantage of a penalty lineout in an attacking position early in the second half Bath doubled their score with a Barkley penalty in front of the posts. However three minutes later Hodgson stretched the Sale lead to 19-6 following a penalty for a Bath player holding on to the ball. The Bath defence was soon again under pressure as Hodgson pushed them back with well weighted kicks which could have resulted in another Sale score.

Steve Borthwick was replaced after 55 minutes by Martin Purdy and the Bath skipper will have been disappointed with poor Bath lineout throughout the game. Bath conceded another penalty for holding on as they were under tremendous pressure and Hodgson didn't disappoint the home supporters as he took the score to 22-6. Hodgson then showed some fallibility as his clearance kick was charged down but Bath couldn't take advantage and touch down for a score.

With ten minutes of the game remaining Bath were awarded a penalty in front of the Sale posts and they opted for a scrum as they had to go for a try and couldn't rely on their lineout. A wide pass from Barkley couldn't be finished off by Tom Cheeseman, as he was held on the line and full-back Ben Foden cleared his lines.

The game drifted towards a very disappointing conclusion for Bath. A long and disappointing journey home for players and supporters!

Referee: Andrew Small

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