By Frank Stormont
August 23 2006

Albion do themselves proud despite going down 17 to 31. A fantastic game to watch by a large crowd for a pre season match.  

Albion 17 Bath 31.

A match that tested both sides with possession probably about even. Albion can be proud of their achievement playing well around the ruck and mauls as well as the backs who attacked and defended well.

Early on Albion had the run of the ball and kept Bath in their own half for a good ten minutes. With Wihan Neethling kicking forward for Tom Arscott only just short of the ball and bath having to scramble for touch.  Then Keni Fisilau was very close to making it across the line.

It took a full fourteen minutes before a drive by Bath crossed the goal line before collapsing. At first the referee could not see the grounding but after what seemed an endless wait he spotted the ball and gave Bath the first points of the match which were duly converted to take Bath into the lead seven points to nil. 

Albion tried hard to come back quick and when Bath refused to keep their distance at the lineout a free kick, taken by Ben Gulliver, led to a penalty with Bath not retiring 10 metres. This gave Wihan the opportunity for his first points in an Albion shirt, unfortunately the ball went left and the play ended in a 22 dropout.

A second try in the corner and a conversion took Bath into a 14 point to nil lead. Despite the fact that Albion had not yet scored there was a feeling that Albion could still pull off a win. This was helped by a penalty when Bath played the ball on the ground in front of the posts and Wihan put three points on the board for Albion.

On the half hour an attack from deep in his own half Tom Arscott ran, dummied then kicked forward for Bath to catch but went to ground and gave away a penalty that Wihan made no mistake with and put the ball between the posts again. And yet another attempt this time from the left hand side and Albion are just five points behind.

The last three minutes of the half and Bath seemed determined to score again before the change around but Albion keep them out and when Bath get penalised for a forward pass just short of the line the ref blew for half time and Albion go to the changing rooms happy to be just a score away.  Meanwhile Bath stay out on the pitch in a huddle.

On returning to the pitch Martin Rice has taken the place of Tim Mathias, but he did not stay off for long as Scott Zimmerman stays down after the first tackle and has to be helped off the pitch so his leg can be worked on before returning a little later.

Seven minutes into the half and a fiery episode in front of the Bath posts caused the ref to break things up and take the two captains aside for a long talk to calm things down which seemed to work and the resulting penalty, taken by Wihan, pulled Albion to just two points adrift.

Fifteen minutes into the half and Tom Hayes comes on to his preferred position at number 8 replacing Chris Lowrie who had made a good start to his season. With a number of replacements Bath raised their game and with a lucky charge down less than ten metres out they went over for an unconverted try to pull the score away again.

Shortly after with at least three men over Bath made hard work of scoring in the corner and the conversion kick bounced back off the near post. Bringing the score to 12 points to 24 and for the first time Bath look as though they could run away with the match.

Albion did not give up and when Tom Arscott broke through in the centre and dummied to kick he almost got around the defender but tripped. He got up but was tackled and attempted to pass to Brett Stroud who was unsuccessful in securing the score as the ball was judged to have gone forward.

If it was not already sealed then a another converted try using all their backs across the pitch to Bath took the score 12 - 31. Still trying hard Albion win a try scored by Martin Rice after a driving maul from a five metre throw in. Wihan's attempt at the conversion was close but it did not matter, Albion had proved more of a match to Bath than their previous two pre season matches. 

A fine performance against a maybe young but never the less Premiership side. Albion played very much as a team and were allowed for most of the match to remain with their starting line-up although all players named in the programme plus one other at least got onto the pitch by the final whistle.

Director of Rugby Graham Dawe said that it had been a good exercise, it being a long time since the last game of last season. It was good to get a run out again and team is in good shape, he was happy with the way the team organised itself  around the back of the maul.  We won the territorial part of the game but not the battle across the whitewash. The debutants played well both home grown and new signings. 

In terms of the new season we need to train hard and work on a few areas for the Neath and Lydney matches and then it's the start of the league at Waterloo.

Albion: Wihan Neethling, Tom Arscott, Keni Fisilau, Arran Cruickshanks, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Tim Mathias, James Owen, Scott Zimmerman, Colin Stewart, Ben Gulliver, Brett Stroud, Danny Thomas, Chris Lowrie.  Reps. Nigel Cane, David Delaney, Nat Saumi, Martin Rice, Richard Oxley, Mike Lewis, Tom Hayes, Darren Ritchie, Federico Genoud

Scorers: Try. Martin Rice, Pen Wihan Neethling(x4)

Bath:  N Abendanon  I Davey  R Davis  M Mangeolles  M Banahan  O Barkley  P Travagli  D Barnes  P Dixon  C Loader R Fidler J Faamatuainu A Beattie (capt)  J Scaysbrook  8.G Delve Reps: D Ward L Ovens A Jarvis D Smith  C Goodman S Alford  G Hughes  C Brooker  L Cozens.

Scorers: Tries Beattie, Delve, Trawagli, Banahan, Mangeolles. Con Barkley(x3)

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