Bath fail to plug holes in their defence as the Bears go on the rampage

If Bristol’s clinical defeat of Exeter on their home patch signalled a shift in rugby’s tectonic plates up the M5, then their total demolition of Bath suggests that the epicentre is now much closer to BS3 than ever before. Bristol mmay not have much in common with the earthquake prone city of San Francisco apart from a famous bridge but there was no doubt that it was a Golden night at the Gate on Friday. Bristol dominated virtually all aspects of the match, although calling it a match is somewhat of an overstatement, as this implies a level of competition. For the majority of the first 60 minutes numerous Bristol players sliced open the Bath defence like a hot knife through butter but even this cliché doesn’t do justice to the reality of the situation. The divide between the two sides demands more hyperbole. A gold-plated sabre through low fat margarine is probably more accurate and where Bristol believed in themselves, their teammates and their system, the Bath players were looking around for someone else to do the work. Unfortunately, the barely believable statistic of 45 tackles missed and 865 metres conceded suggests that in fact, that someone was no-one. Bristol literally rampaged through no man’s land putting Bath players to the sword as they retreated to the trenches. Six, yes six Bath players didn’t even touch the ball! This is the fourth consecutive win for Bristol against their closest geographical rivals but in reality they were worlds apart. For the time being at least Bristol have rendered these once feared opponents to the ignominy of whipping boys.

Ironically the game started relatively well for Bath as they managed to get possession from the kick off forcing Bristol to scramble their defence and it soon had the feel of a 7s match albeit one where very quickly Bristol appeared to have at least 27 players on the pitch. But once Luke Morahan had touched down in the corner after a whiplash miss pass on the run from the outstandingly talented and unbelievably young Ioan Lloyd then the template was set and the unravelling of the Bath challenge began in earnest. If the win against Exeter was the most clinical performance seen under Pat Lam’s tenure, then the first 40 minutes of this game was the most swashbuckling as player after player took the opportunity to bank clips for their personal highlights package. There were so many dominant collisions, multiple carries and outrageous offloads that it was difficult to keep track. Nathan Hughes with his newly plaited yellow mane, stalked the pitch like a lion on the Serengeti looking for prey, the dynamic Bryan Byrne combined lineout accuracy with energy in both attack and defence and Chris Vui was so assured on his return to fitness that he even overshadowed Steve Luatua in the consistency and intelligence of the work that he did. Watching the forwards and backs combining in a fluid system of both aggression and finesse reminded me a bit of the Cruyff inspired total football of the 1970s. 

It seems churlish to pick out individuals after such a collective performance, but it was fantastic to see Andy Uren pick up the man of the match gong and there was a lot of competition. He is a very likeable chap – a local boy with a cheeky smile – and his post-match interview showed a respect and humility for his place in the Bears project that warmed the cockles. Clearly relegated to understudy this season with the rapid rise of Harry Randall the fact that he was able to slot in and perform so well at 9 is credit both to him and the coaching team. Of course, it helps when you are playing behind a rampaging pack but scrum half is such a pivotal position that you still have to make the right decisions at the right times and with Randall missing for several games this performance will give him and the fans huge amounts of confidence going forward. 

Whilst his man of the match accolade was fully deserved the performance of Piers O’Connor suggested that for once it should have been shared. To use a horse racing analogy, he isn’t just a thoroughbred, he is a top-level champion chaser combining style and rock solid substance in a most consistent manner. How he has not been picked for the England inside centre spot is beyond me because in terms of class, form and technical ability who in the country is better than him? Owen Farrell? Really? Perhaps Eddie Jones doesn’t like the way he casually dabs the ball down when he crosses the whitewash but surely it can’t be long before the selectors come calling. O’Conor epitomises the Bears project along with the likes of Jake Woolmore, Henry Purdy and Ioan Lloyd who all had strong games on Friday. Players with raw talent picked up from Championship clubs or the Academy and rapidly transformed into Premiership stalwarts. These are the players forming the bedrock of Bristol’s success, sprinkled with the stardust of Semi, Piatau, Luatua and the rest. 

But where Bristol were clear and clinical in their thinking and execution, Bath appeared to be muddled and sloppy in theirs. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result and clearly the voices in Rhys Priestland’s head kept telling him to ‘kick to Semi, ‘kick to Semi, ‘kick to Semi’ which he duly did. Whilst there may have been some method in the madness you would have thought he might have realised it was a doomed strategy the second time Semi popped it to Piston Purdy for another 40 yard break. If I was a Bath fan, I would have been apoplectic with rage. It seemed like quite a few senior Bath players downed tools fairly early on, resorting to cheap shots like scrum cap ripping and John Afoa head smashing in order to regain some control. Then again I suppose that is all you can do when you can’t get your hands on the oval. And seeing Jonathan Joseph’s kitten-like attempt at tackling Semi as he broke for his solo try FROM HIS OWN 22 and then laughing and smiling when Bristol scored their seventh must have felt like daggers in the Bath fans’ hearts. Moreover, Zach Mercer, a player that Bristol fans fear, increasingly looked like a man who was hoping that the A Team would swoop down into Ashton Gate and take him to Montpelier there and then. It’s easy to say that Stuart Hooper is to blame and clearly there seems to be a lack of clarity of vision and culture in Bath’s make up, but serious questions also have to be asked of the players on the pitch. 45 tackles missed! As Ugo Monye said on commentary, that is the sort of stat you see in the early rounds of the U18 Daily Mail cup, not in a top flight professional league.

It is testament to just how extraordinary the first half was that the 14-0 second half outcome could be deemed as somewhat of a failure. Whereas Priestland’s yellow card for a deliberate knock on in the first half yielded 21 points for Bristol, the Baylis one in the second provided zero but to be honest, once the seventh try had been scored and the system players started arriving from the bench, it is perhaps understandable that it was hard to maintain the brutal rhythm of the previous three quarters of the game. It was a real shame that the 50-point mark remained unbreached and it was the result of both a combination of sloppy play from Bristol and some Bath players scraping a small amount of pride from the bottom of their reputation barrels with an improved defensive effort. But that was from a very low base. I often wonder whether there is ‘anything lower than a nadir’ and I’m sure many Bath fans are hoping that there isn’t.

But you cannot complain with a record win in the Premiership and no tries conceded and, in many ways, playing Sale next is probably the best thing that could happen as it will refocus minds very quickly with the knowledge that a much tougher and more South African weighted foe awaits. There is no way that the Du Preez brothers will roll over and have their tummies tickled like the Bath players did and it is important to remember the old adages that you are only as good as your next game and that you must always believe that your best is still in front of you until it really isn’t. Knowing the way that the club operates now I’m sure that those messages will be rammed home in training all through the week.