Glasgow Warriors 10, Bath 29

Glasgow succumbed to Bath today for the second time inside a week. On a chill Firhill evening they went down in an enthralling Heineken Cup contest.

Kevin Tkachuk scored Glasgow’s only try seven minutes into the second half, and Dan Parks converted, cutting the Bath lead to 17-10. An earlier Parks penalty goal gave Glasgow the lead after only three minutes following a surge by Graydon Staniforth and Hefin O’Hare from John Beattie’s lineout take, but Olly Barkley responded in kind. Thereafter the visitiors mainly had the game under control, but Glasgow, off limited supplies, had chances in the second half to have gone closer if not all the way.

Victory strengthened the former European champions’ position at the top of the section table, and as in last Saturday’s match against Glasgow at the Recreation Ground, Bath gained a four-try bonus. But that extra point almost eluded them. It was into added time after 80 minutes that Michael Stephenson scored that last try, and Barkley’s conversion was the last kick of the contest.

For much of the game, especially in the first half, Glasgow were on the back feet. Bath’s forwards turned the screws with driving, rolling mauls, much more than they had done in last week’s encounter, and it speaks volumes for Glasgow’s defensive game that the visitors were confined to four tries. John Barclay had two particularly fine try-saving tackles in the first half.

Also, two of the Bath tries were scored while Glasgow were reduced to 14 men, with Tim Barker in the sin-bin, apparently for attempting to foil a close-range maul by driving in from the side. It was the “repeated infringement” class. Yet when, early in the second half, Glasgow were thwarted in that same way, with the crowd screaming for a yellow card, the referee’s dual reaction was to award a penalty and to speak with Zak Feaunati, the Bath captain. It was from that penalty that Tkachuk scored Glasgow’s sole try.

For nearly half an hour, following Barkley’s equalising penalty goal, Bath dominated the Glasgow half of the field without any return for their pressure. The visitors even dictated the stoppages. The first half was fractured by a succession of injuries to visiting players, though none was serious apart from Rob Fidler’s departure.

But the yellow card for Barker in 34 minutes was enough for tip the scales. Only four minutes later Nick Walshe nipped over from a close-range ruck to finish off a fearsome phase of percussion hammering on the Glasgow line.

Barkley converted for a 10-3 half-time lead, and only two minutes into the second half Danny Grewcock galloped over through a wide gap from a maul in the home 22. The space that opened for him was greater than anything that Glasgow had allowed in the first half.

Glasgow, however, picked up when the binned lock returned to the field, and from the close-range tapped penalty by Parks it was Barker who had the first go at the line. He was not far short before Tkachuk went the whole way to score.

Soon afterwards Rory Lamont latched on to a loose ball near halfway and hacked ahead. But the bounce did not favour him, and Bath’s riposte was swift, with Barkley opening the way for Tom Cheeseman to score. It was much the same way in which Barkley had created the opening try last week for Michael Stephenson.

Barkley’s attempted conversion of that third try tonight struck the far post and rebounded the wrong way for Bath. But at 10-22 Glasgow were not out it. Staniforth’s chip and chase was denied by Frikkie Welsh, and Tkachuk went close again after a storming assault on the left initiated by Lamont and continued by Graeme Morrison (twice involved), Sam Pinder, Beattie, and Andrew Henderson.

A try from either of those attacks would have turned the complexion of the game. Instead, Stephenson finished off by stepping past the rushing Staniforth to score a try that Barkley converted.

This article was posted on 16-Dec-2005, 23:13 by Hugh Barrow.