Bath Boks too hot to handle for Bristol
Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:20
Springboks Butch James and Michael Claassens proved the key for European Challenge Cup champions Bath as they started their Guinness Premiership campaign with an emphatic 33-20 win over Bristol at the Memorial Stadium on Sunday.
Despite Bristol staying within striking distance for almost threequarters of the game - they were level 17-all at half-time and were down just three points (20-23) approaching the final quarter - Bath played sensibly after the break and put enough space between them and the home team for a comfortable win.
Bath, who dominated the set pieces, raced clear with a 10-point blitz in two minutes to put the match beyond Bristol.
Behind the dominant Bath pack - with Bristol opting for niggling to counter the power of the visiting forwards - Claassens and James controlled the game.
While Claassens' service was swift, many will say he had an armchair ride behind his dominant pack.
But few will deny that James was a masterclass and looked a class above in his first game back after three months of international rugby with South Africa.
Despite playing in nine of South Africa's 10 internationals since early June, including a very demanding six Tri-Nations Tests, James did not look fatigued at all.
It was indeed an entertaining game, with some end-to-end stuff at times.
And Bristol deserves credit for their contribution to some very entertaining back play.
However, it was up front where they were caught short and that told in the second half, when Bath turned up the heat.
Bristol took an early lead with a third-minute Andrew Blowers try, converted by Adrian Jarvis.
James left his first mark on the game in the 14th minute with a penalty, before Bath took the lead with Joe Maddock try - converted by James, who did not miss with a single kick.
A minute after Maddock's score Jarvis levelled matters at 10-all, as Bristol surprised Bath with their determination.
With 10 minutes of the half left Tom Cheeseman went over for a well-worked Bath try and James' conversion put his team seven points clear again.
But then came one of the best tries ever seen at the Memorial Stadium, as David Lemi ran 60 metres for a great individual effort. He collected a ball on his own 10m line, eluded a few would-be tacklers, went on a weaving run, then kicked ahead and collected to beat the cover to score.
Jarvis added the conversion to make it 17-all, which was also the score at half-time.
James put Bath six points clear (23-17) with well-taken penalties in the 42nd and 49th minutes, before a Jarvis penalty brought Bristol back to within three points.
But then Bath stepped up the pace and Bristol fell off the pace.
First there was James' fourth penalty of the game, No.8 Jonny Fa'amatuainu went over for Bath's third try - converted by James.
Bath then shut up shop and protected their 33-20 lead - which they did very effectively.
The scorers:
Bristol Rugby:
Tries: Blowers, Lemi
Cons: Jarvis 2
Pens: Jarvis 2
Bath Rugby:
Tries: Maddock, Cheeseman, Fa'amatuainu
Cons: James 3
Pens: James 4
The teams:
Bristol Rugby: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Junior Fatialofa, 12 Kevin Maggs, 11 David Lemi, 10 Adrian Jarvis, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 Dan Ward-Smith, 7 Joe El Abd (captain), 6 Andrew Blowers, 5 Robert Sidoli, 4 Nathan Budgett, 3 Jason Hobson, 2 Scott Linklater, 1 Mark Irish.
Replacements: 16 David Blaney, 17 Scott Linklater, 18 Mariano Sambucetti, 19 Redford Pennycook, 20 Graeme Beveridge, 21 Ed Barnes, 22 Greg Barden.
Bath Rugby: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Joe Maddock, 13 Alex Crockett, 12 Eliota
Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Butch James, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Jonny Faamatuainu, 7 Michael Lipman (captain), 6 Stuart Hooper, 5 Peter Short, 4 Justin Harrison, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Lee Mears, 1 David Barnes.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 Duncan Bell, 18 David Flatman, 19 James Scaysbrook, 20 Scott Bemand, 21 Shaun Berne, 22 Andrew Higgins.
Referee: Chris White
