Brace yourselves.....it's Tigers v Bath time!!!

The final league matches of the season are upon us, time for those last ditch attempts to secure playoff positions, save themselves from relegation or just salvage some respectability for the seasons campaign.
Bath fall into the latter category although their final bout comes against the age old enemy in the form of Leicester Tigers.
During the 80's and 90's both were considered as the top two teams in England and continuously slogged it out over countless cup finals and truly became top foes. The rivalry is still rife between the two team only Gloucester are a bigger for of Bath but then that more of the local rivalry coming out.
Due to Bath's dip un form Tigers will go into the fixture as firm favourites, and will want to inflict revenge for the square up earlier in the season. After Staunton having 100% accuracy during the game he managed so send a 45m kick sailing wide of the post with the last kick. Thankfully Bath ran out winners by one point, a 26-25 nail biter. With the Tigers at full strength and showing good form this could be a monumental task for Bath. We all know the way the season has panned out, indifferent to say the least, but can they run out victorious at Wellford road and perform the double over Leicester?
A win would salvage some respectability for the season and potentially stay above the other foes Gloucester who will battle against the Exiles, a possible tricky match up for the Cherry and Whites but as Bath Irish and Gloucester have also been varied with their play. Even more surprising is a 5 pointer against Tigers and Sharks taking nothing from the Quins fixture, and we're level pegging. All this is only speculative and I'd just like to see the boys in Blue, Black and white 'tame' the Tigers!! I can only apologise for that pun, I have been fighting it and there will be many more to face over the weekend.
How ever this weekend pans out we must cheer and shout for nothing more  than Bath to come out victorious.

Can we af-Ford to go for Gold?

As per usual the rumours have been rife with more and more speculative views of the next Bath Ruby DOR and head coach.
We've endure countless snippets of gossip from names such as Mallet, White, Robinson, Catt, Gold, Cheika......to name a few linked with the vacant roles at the Rec.
The latest two candidates 'certain' of the jobs are the intrim duo at Falcons Gary Gold and Mike Ford. Falcons who are staring down the barrel of relegation who before they took over were 10 points adrift from fellow strugglers Wasps. They had gone through a run of 13 games only winning 2, drawing 1 but losing 10. After the time under the Gold and Ford ruling Falcons are about to face a relegation battle, winner takes all with Wasps after clawing back to being 4 points behind. So yes it seems Gold and Ford are doing good things Newcastle, but are they right to try to take bath to the top?
Ford as we all know spent just over 3 years as the defence coach with England and left after the Poor display during the World Cup. The English side during his time in fairness had become a very ill disciplined side and games were lost on the penalties given away. As the role of defense coach this does not bode well.
Gold has been through many roles from London Irish head coach to South Africa's assistant coach a man of good reputation and potentially a good DOR. But is he the man to take Bath back to their glittering highs of yesteryear? We all had the belief that McGeechan was the man to do so, and yet as it was seen not to be!!!
Well one thing is to been said we will have to wait and see........watch this space

Another twist???

After the Telegraph's revelations last night saying that tomorrow Gary Gold will finally sign as the DOR at Bath Rugby and Mike Catt to be offered the head coaches role today again it's all change!
It has now been suggested that due to backroom staff changes and other possibilities being now looked at the announcement will be delayed to the end of the Aviva Premiership season.
With so much speculation and rumours fluttering around the frustration is now again starting to mount.
If I was a player at Bath Rugby (I wish!!!) what kind of detrimental effect would this be taking. With so much speculation and uncertainty engulfing the club would this be a settling environment or encourage me to want to hit the 100%. How would such unbalance effect the concentration of the players. Although on the flip side of this is, its the best time to show your worth. With a new coaching team set to take over its the best time to show how a pivotal role un the squad.
I thing is for certain for most Bath fans the decisions can't come quick enough, so we know the potential force we all hope the Blue, Black and white army truly can be!

Is the suspense over?

Since Sir Ian McGeechan's tenure at Bath was announced it was coming to an end the tension has been building to see who'll take the reigns at the Rec. With so many names bouncing about for the head coach and DOR, but utter silence from the club.

But suddenly yesterday there was a blanket of silence across Twitter from all Bath's players, and a rumour circulating that they were banned from using it for the day. But why the silence, will there be an announcement of finally knowing who had the task of resurrecting the Blue,Black and white.

Then here it come the silence was lifted, but nothing. Were they just toying with us, building our hopes? Then came the Telegraph article arrived like a ray of light breaking the sky on the stormiest night. Could this be true -Friday we will know, Friday the announcement we've been yearning to hear will be released. So what will we know? Will it be DOR, will it be head coach or will we be spoilt and get both? Well apparently both!!!!!
In an article releasing that Mike Catt is confirmed to be taking on the role of Andy Farrell with England during the tour of south Africa. There was a snippet at the bottom showing that this Friday will see Gary Gold signing up as the new DOR at Bath! With this breaking bit of news came the added bonus that Gold is to announce he's got a proposition for Catt to take on the head coach job on his return.

Could this be the news we've all been waiting for, is this the combination needed at the Rec, can they revive Bath back to the top?

The suspense is killing us!!!

As I sat wetting my whistle in my favourite watering hole yesterday evening, I got embroiled in a conversation of deep magnitude with a fellow of the elderly persuasion. Unfortunately this gentleman turned out to be a bit of an argumentative chap who appears to know best, but the chat led me to have a look at Bath's unanswered questions.

The debate, if I can loosely throw throw that around this, began discussing The Rec. For some lengthy period of time the Rec has been a huge topic and if Bath are to become the best; that ground desperately needs regenerating, but we all know this! The point I tried to make to my counterpart in the discussion is: To take Bath Rugby away from the Rec would be borderline criminal! They go hand in hand. Not only because of the stunning surroundings but the economic influence it has on the local trade. The gentleman in question, who is a season ticket holder and apparently a "man in the know" his words!! He is certain that in 2 yrs the marriage of Bath Rugby will be having a divorce and they will be setting up a new relationship with some floosey of a plot of land. This is when the debate slightly broke down to become more of a spat, his stated plot is Farliegh!!! My answer "not a chance". It's too far from Bath with no Bus route and making for some unhappy campers who travel to the games. After some heated words and threats of barring, we agreed to disagree, although I think I'm right!

My afterthoughts of this is why do we have so many unanswered questions at Bath?
- The ground
- Who's going to be DOR
- Who's going to be head coach
- Who's going to be forwards coach
And so on...... For weeks now we've had to endure endless speculation surrounding the coaching team. So many names bouncing about, so many people with inside knowledge saying they know whose got the job. And yet from all the countless speculations we're still none the wiser. I would believe it would be fair of Bath just to us supporters at least an announcement date and a snippet of who could be in the potential running. With so much mystery engulfing one club I've heard that Scooby Doo and the mystery team are on their way to investigate.

Bon voyage Belly!

With the indifferent season at the Rec drawing to a close and the fans focusing on hope and expectations for next season, there was one last outing left for the boys to undertake......bring on the Wasps.

The day would see the Captain Stuart Hooper collecting his centenary of appearances although this would not be the day for him to charge out onto the pitch leading his troop ready to to battle, no this accolade was presented to another man!
With the announcement of a huge servant of the club and a man considered as a Bath legend Mr Duncan Bell wcould to be retiring at the end of the season the final home game became a much bigger occasion. For Bath itself some form of respectability salvation of the season and to give the big man the send off he deserves. Also 2 other players who are drawing an end to their days in Blue,Black and white are Matt Carrero and Pieter Dixon so the hope of a monumental fixture was in the expectations of pumped up crowd, ready to exercise some fine voices with calls of ALLEZ BATH!!

A free family day to be be followed by Bath taking part in some pest control against Wasps geared up a lively festival atmosphere (although having Peppa pig and a Hog roast in the same place left some awkward questions for parents). With the relentlessly excitable sell out crowd taking their places baying for that long awaited win in what they refer to as their Mecca, the time arrived for the team to be led onto the park by the man himself met by an erupterous applause........Belly!!

To start Bath showed their intent in the game by taking it to Wasps. When a penalty was won instead of taking the three points from the boot of Olly they opted to kick for touch, unfortunately not leading to points but showing where their game plan was at. The pressure insued for a good 10-15 minutes but slowly the possession swayed into the opponents hands. With the general concesious starting to feel are they going to rue the normal all possession and no points again? And then it seemed the norm was going to become a reality. Infringements creeping in and the points being taken by Nicky Robinson giving Wasps a 0-9 lead going into half time. An interesting stat came out showing Bath have the worst penalty count in the league averaging 12.3 per game showing where the games have been lost in this campaign. As the half time whistle shreeled out the air of pessimism was starting to filter around, could we lose to relegation battlers Wasps?

As the half time pasties, pies and pints were purchased the thoughts were is there anyway way back or will this sum up our season. Well let's at least see what the second half has to throw at us?
Well it seemed something had clicked in the time out in the changing room as seven minutes in a over the line drops Mearsey showing again why we've missed his time off for injury. The dynamics were really flipped on their heads when up steps Eastmond, whose transition from league to union hasn't quite gone to the desired plan. Eastmond came on as a blood sub for Carrero and automatically pepped up the boys resulting in that man Donald crossing the line, suddenly Bath had a 12-9 lead and looked to be in control. Proof to how good Eastmond had been there was a disappointment when Carrero actually came back on, but this was very short lived. The moment had arrived........a mass subs change and enter the frame fir one last time on the rec..... BELLY!!!! A rapturous applause ensued and positivity flooded the park again. We also got to see Dixon run out for the last time down st the Rec, scene was set Belly, Carrero and Dixon all out for their final farewell to Bath's faithful. Then the dream seemed to hit reality as Abendanon crossed over taking the tally to 17 and the impetus riding Bath's way. Due to the Bath way they did let slip another penalty to which Robinson happily slotted over leaving Wasps looking for a losing bonus point.
Possibly the most talked about moment came when an unfortunate Sam Vesty made what can only be described as a schoolboy error. When he seemed to be a shoe in for giving Bath a rare try scoring bonus and stripping Wasps of their bonus point, he prematurely celebrated the score before dabbing down. The issue with came when Tom Vardell turned on the burners and caught him and stopping the score. The TMO was called into play although the answer was known around the ground, more embarrassing was the TMO itself awarding the not awarding the try sending confusion amongst all spectators. For so many you knew the discontent and abuse would ensue upon Vesty for losing the bonus point this would be in my eyes an uncalled for and wrong thing to do! Yes he did make the mistake, but after the first half performance by the team to accuse one man for a whole team is wrong!! I will now step down from my soap box.
When the final whistle was blown a cheer of jubilation filled the ground for the dream send off of a win had happened and Belly, Dixon and Carrero could leave know their last game in the city of Bath had been victorious!!!

Best 15 of all time!!!!!

With it being such a mishap of a season do we have any players that would fit into Bath Rugby's top 15 of all time?

If you look back through Bath's glory days of the club it is steeped with players of supreme calibre which can only be pronounced as legends. You could run a list of names from Hill, Barnes, Chillcott, Spurrell, Ubugu, Webb, Trick, Dawe, Horner....... The list could go on for ever!
With the change from amateur to professional how many old school boys could stand up in the modern genre?
So the question to be layed down is if you could pick the ultimate Bath rugby 15 who would be your starters. Could any of this days squad fit into that 15 or any of them to be future ultimate Bath 15?

Ok give it a go pick your starting line up and see how many over fans agree.....