Following Bath’s 43-15 win over Leicester Tigers in round 17 of the Premiership, here are our five key takeaways from a try-fest at the Rec.
The Top Line
Bath signed off their regular home Premiership campaign with a brilliant display of power, pace and precision at the Rec as they opened the taps to put second-placed Leicester Tigers to the sword in a quite outstanding seven try and five point win.
Bath’s scores came from Ben Spencer, a stunning individual opener, Beno Obano, Quinn Roux, two from Tom Dunn, Will Stuart and a last minute effort from Will Butt to seal a memorable and almost celebratory win.
Player of the Match Max Ojomoh allowed Bath to pull clear after half time as he delivered a memorable personal impact performance, after Tigers had thrown everything at their hosts for the first 50 minutes.
Tigers’ tries came from their two outstanding backs, Adam Radwan and Joe Woodward, a man who’s really put a marker down this year as the 21-year-old former England U20 player again delivered an eye-catching performance in a position, 12, where England have thinner resources than elsewhere.
The van Graan machine keeps on trucking; in a game without any pressure, Bath delivered a statement win, but two of their next three matches are both sudden death, and their performance in this game will give them all the confidence in the world to take to Cardiff with them.
Implications
These two sides came into this match with completely different agendas.
For Leicester Tigers, it was scraping one point from the Premiership leaders to ensure their qualification, but that didn’t happen so the East Midlanders will be pleased that their next assignment is the visit of beleaguered Newcastle Falcons to Mattioli Woods Welford Road on May 31st, a match that surely reeks of a full five points for them.
Leicester mounted a spirited effort at the end but their hopes evaporated in the wake of Joe Cokanasiga’s boots as Max Ojomoh intercepted a pass when Tigers were pressing to try and grab those crucial couple of tries and offloaded to the flying wing.
However, a couple of bonus points in this game might have secured them a crucial home play-off spot, and as a result, that’s very much in the lap of the gods. But if things go to plan in a fortnight, they should just be home and hosed, given the lamentable season Falcons have had.
Bath, fighting a battle on two fronts, were looking to build confidence and to try out strategy and tactics, but the single biggest box to be ticked was one of keeping their players fresh and uninjured, something they managed to do quite comfortably. As they put their Premiership bid on hold for a weekend and with only a six-day turnaround until they meet Union Lyon Olympique next Friday night in Cardiff, there’s a fine line between form and fatigue, and Johann van Graan will be delighted that his players avoided any serious incidents.
Leicester Finesse Missing
Leicester Tigers’ forwards and defence did everything they could to get their side over the line, but their efforts were not matched by their back division, who apart from a couple of great individual moments, failed to get their men around the edge that the forwards provided for them.
Up front, Nicky Smith delivered a mammoth effort and possibly just got the better of one of the best tightheads in the world, Thomas du Toit. Smith is a gnarly character with great technique, and he managed to expose and get into du Toit’s flank, something few have ever managed to do to the Springbok. Alongside Smith, Hanro Liebenberg delivered yet another massive shift, hammering 13 carries for some 94 hard-made metres.
But the Tigers struggled to get pace on the ball. Hampered by yet another glacial display of passing from Jack van Poortvliet at the base, they were always too narrow and often too slow, the exception being when Pollard delivered a wonderful pass to the wide channels when Bath were a man down, and Adam Radwan flew over. That moment, together with JVP’s one moment of influence when he hit an exquisite cross-field kick for Joe Woodward to smash through the Bath line, were the high spots of a backline attack that really failed to live up to the excellent work of their forwards.
Bath Attack Variety
One of the qualities that makes Bath so difficult to defend against is that they are equally comfortable running off both nine and ten, a real rarity in modern rugby where teams normally play predominantly off one or the other.
Ben Spencer is the man that controls off early phase plays- bringing in big and direct runners such as Barbeary, Butt and Cokanaigna to run short lines, but if that fails, the vision of Finn Russell’s passing game lurks behind to drive through the cracks that Spencer’s work creates.
Spencer is the nearest thing in English rugby to a French style nine- a man that’s as much of a controlling and visioning influence for his team’s attack as the ten, Russell is. The pair have evolved a wonderful understanding over the last two seasons, leading the team strategy as a collaborative rather than a hierarchy. Spencer’s ability off first-phase couldn’t be more clearly illustrated by the first Bath try as Henderson missed his jump and, crucially, left a huge hole behind him for Spencer to fly through.
The other focal point has to be the brilliance of the Bath line out, which, like their backline, has that priceless quality, variety. The hosts scored three tries off their lineouts- the Spencer break, a clean as a whistle Ewels catch and Cokanasigna drive which saw Beno Obano finish, and then a more traditional effort that saw the new Lion Will Stuart rumble over.
With Lyon but six sleeps away for Bath, the nuance and variety of how they run their attack might just be their superstar scrum and fly half might just be the superpower that gives them a crucial competitive advantage in the EPCR Challenge Cup Final next Friday.
Test Watch
England’s pack is absolutely stacked with options moving forward to Argentina and the USA in June and July. There’s little doubt that in this match, Ted Hill, Tom Dunn, Alfie Barbeary and Beno Obano reminded Steve Borthwick in no uncertain terms that it’s time he either looked at them again, or in some cases, looked at them properly for the first time. Charlie Ewels and Sam Underhill will be the foundations of the touring team, and Guy Pepper delivered a lovely cameo off the bench so expect to see a big Bath contingent in the Americas.
However, in the backline, England’s riches yield a much lesser return, so the performances of Ben Spencer, absolutely outstanding in controlling and leading the Bath attack, might yet see another recall.
The man against him, van Poortvliet, might have many highlight reel moments, but the speed and accuracy of his passing is nowhere near the level of a test nine, and his ponderous kick work around the base has already been exposed twice at test level.
In the centres, both 12s did their chances no harm, with Joe Woodward continuing to impress all with his size and power, whilst Will Butt continues his improvement, working well with two men that may well be England wings on the tour, Will Muir and Joe Cokanasigna, and when Max Ojomoh came on in the second half, he made a big difference to the pace of the Bath backline.
For Tigers, Adam Radwan offers a unique quality- pure gas, the hardest thing to defend against. Freddie Steward may wince when he sees the Tom Dunn dummy that he bought with the eagerness of a prop purchasing his first pint of the night, but the biggest message was sent by a Welshman- Nicky Smith, someone that Wales simply must give an extended run to.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/bath-v-leicester-five-takeaways-as-collaborative-playmakers-emerge-as-hosts-superpower-while-englands-foundations-reveal-themselves
