Bath Rugby supporter Glyn Edwards give his take on events at The Rec...
"Bizarre" was the only word that one of Bath's players could think of after the match at Adams Park last Sunday to describe the game that Bath had just lost to their Coventry-bound opponents.
Indeed, it had been a bizarre contest, with Wasps unexpectedly building a seemingly unassailable 29-0 lead with only 10 minutes played in the second half before Bath stormed back with an unanswered 22 point burst, and then came mightily close to snatching what really would have been an improbable draw.
After the hugely-impressive defeat of Saracens at The Rec in their previous outing, I wrote that the challenge after such a display would be how to sustain such a level - and with half an hour still to go on Sunday it seemed like that challenge was one that Bath had palpably failed to rise to, having been strangely second-best in terms of the physicality and intensity of their play almost from the first whistle.
I say almost, because it was not quite the headline writer's dream scenario of being able to claim that the real Bath team had seemingly gone to Coventry ahead of Wasps' move there, with only their relatively pale shadows remembering to turn up in High Wycombe for the last time.
As it was, Bath dominated the first few minutes and could count themselves unfortunate to have Kyle Eastmond's fifth-minute 'try' disallowed by the officials for a rather irrelevant and accidental obstruction by Alafoti Fa'osiliva.
Thereafter, however, Wasps fed off of Bath's adjudged indiscipline and built up a significant 12-0 half-time lead through the boot of Andy Goode. It could have been far worse for Mike Ford's men if they had not managed to prevent Wasps from touching the ball down not once but three times in quick succession after the home side had crossed the Bath line.
It did get worse for Bath two minutes before the break though, as Leroy Houston was sin-binned for a dangerous tip-tackle on Joe Simpson. His indiscretion not only cost us ten minutes without his services on Sunday, but having been cited and pleaded guilty earlier this week he has now been banned for three matches. Those further 240 minutes will hit Bath very hard in what is now the weakest area of the team in terms of fit players available for selection for the imminent European fixtures.
Dai Young's sides had played well in front of their biggest home crowd of the season and in the notable absence of the anticipated protests by some of Wasps' understandably disgruntled London and Home Counties-based supporters. But the visitors had also been curiously unable to threaten Wasps' control by posing any of the unanswerable questions that had so comprehensively flummoxed Leicester and conclusively troubled Sarries in the two recent fixtures at The Rec.
Bath's uncomfortable afternoon continued after half-time with two scores by the hosts and two further yellow cards being shown to Bath players. The Blue, White & Black were reduced to a mere twelve men for a few ludicrous moments following Davey Wilson's trip as Nathan Hughes broke from a scrum and Mickey Young's concession of a penalty try for illegally preventing Christian Wade from scoring.
The brave but ultimately unsuccessful fightback began whilst Bath were still down to rugby league numbers, however, as Eastmond put Jonathan Joseph over to give Bath their first five points. Wade was lucky not to be made to cool his heels for ten minutes as he tripped the supporting Gavin Henson just before Joseph touched down.
Further tries from Young and David Sisi, both converted by George Ford, gave Bath genuine hope of more than just the losing bonus point which a Ford penalty secured, but despite retaining control and striving hard for a further score, that was Bath's only reward from a puzzling and frustrating afternoon.
The memorable legacy from an unsatisfactory 80 minutes seemed to have been the character shown by the severely depleted ranks in the opening minutes of the second period, followed by the return of this season's exhilarating attacking prowess in tackling the 29 point deficit.
Sadly, the more lasting effect of Sunday's events is likely to be the further reduction of Bath's back row assets. Fa'osiliva's late injury and Houston's ban have compounded the existing absence through injury of Matt Garvey, Carl Fearns, and Francois Louw, with Matt Gilbert's recent departure to Worcester leaving the squad down to less than the bare bones of just Guy Mercer and Sisi with first-XV experience.
The pursuit of Steffan Armitage and the rumoured interest in Thierry Dusatoir aside, it looks likely that Stuart Hooper will have to resume his back-row cameos of a few seasons ago when Bath travel to Glasgow on Saturday. The opening Champions' Cup fixture against the Warriors at Scotstoun promises to be their biggest test in Pool 4 on the Club's return to Europe's biggest stage, and the current lack of fit back-row resources have significantly increased the challenge that it represents.
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