Bath Rugby supporter Glyn Edwards gives his take on events at The Rec...
No game for Bath last weekend – and no trip to the south of France as a consequence – at least produced the silver lining of the chance to take in two matches at Twickenham as compensation.
Saturday's record crowd of more than 72,000 for the annual Services arm-wrestling contest between the Army and the Royal Navy were treated to an absorbing and entertaining 80 minutes – particularly for those, like me, who once served with the men in red.
The Navy side – not too dissimilar from that thrashed 77-7 by 11-try Bath United in the middle of last month – stormed into a deserved 19-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, with their three-try burst completely subduing the shell-shocked Army XV.
Bath's Fijian winger, and Cavalry tank driver, Lance Corporal Semesa Rokoduguni of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, admitted afterwards how nervous he was at that point that his team would not be able to recover from the onslaught.
In the stands, however, I was as confident that they would – led by Roko, of course, who scored a hat-trick of tries in last year's game – as Dave Guyan, Bath's team manager and former matelot, was worried that they might.
Roko, pictured, duly obliged with another hat-trick of scores, as the Army went on to score 43 unanswered points before eventually running out winners by 43 points to 26.
Bath's find of the season even celebrated his first try with a spectacular back-flip, just as he had promised a badly injured comrade – recuperating in Headley Court and watching on TV – that he would do, when the Army team visited recently.
Sadly, on Sunday, Saracens were unable to uphold England's honour – and potentially do Bath an enormous qualification favour in the process – by defeating the expensively-assembled Toulon team and so reaching the Heineken Cup final.
While not particularly ambitious, the French side played the smarter rugby, were more disciplined in defence, and had the meticulously clinical 'Jonneeee' – as the noisy Toulonnais call him – at the helm, where he totally outshone Owen Farrell.
Wilkinson will not be on the plane to Australia, though, while young Farrell will – accompanied by Mako Vunipola, and Gatland's surprise selection, Matt Stevens.
So for Bath to feature in next season's Heineken it's win or bust against Sarries at their new Allianz Park home on Saturday, and Gloucester must win at Sandy Park to prevent Exeter from securing the final qualification place.
Can they do it? Well, the Leicester team beaten at the Rec in Bath's last match two weekends ago contained six members of Gatland's 2013 Lions squad, and Saracens' home play-off semi-final is also secure, so perhaps a mixture of Army spirit and Fijian magic will see us pull it off.
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