Bath Rugby were supposed to be playing Worcester this weekend, however, the Barbarians stepped in to set up a thrilling encounter at The Rec on the weekend.
After winning their game at the death last week against Leicester Tigers in round 10 of the Gallagher Premiership Bath had a taste of their own medicine this weekend as they had their lead snatched away from them following a piece of individual brilliance from All Black Damien McKenzie.
A loss at the tale end of the game saw Bath’s winning streak come to an unfortunate end.
Two first half tries from each team saw the scores level at 14-14. Levi Aumua causing all kinds of problems as he scored the Barbarians first two tries. For Bath Tom De Glanville and Miles Reid dotted down twice for the home side.
The second saw another brace for a Barbarians player, this time it being Pat Lam’s nephew AJ lam crossing the white wash twice.
Bath got their two second half tries through replacements Joe Cokanasiga and Wesley White. A late penalty for Bath saw them take a 30-28 lead heading into the final minute, however a stunning McKenzie drop goal from 40 metres out sealed it for the BaaBaa’s.
In what was supposed to be a tightly contested Premiership Cup clash against Worcester Warriors, Bath Rugby found themselves in a very open and flowing game of rugby against the ever entertaining Barbarians team. Bath may have lost the game but the Recreation Ground was bouncing with the relaxed but daring nature of the BaaBaa’s captivating the crowd with their stylish brand of rugby.
The game started horribly for the host as they were down by seven within the first minute of the game, Auckland Blues winger AJ Lam beat Max Ojomoh on the outside and then managed to get the offload away, to Luther Burrell who found his centre partner Levi Aumua who raced away down the wing to open the day’s scoring.
It didn’t take long for Bath to recover from the instance attack from the BaaBaa’s as they got themselves on the score sheet very promptly through Tom De Glanville. After being the catalyst for the Barbarians first try Lam allowed Bath to kick-start their attack as they exploited him when he shot out the defensive line. Josh Bayliss broke down the outside and shipped it onto Matt Gallagher who chipped the ball inside and De Glanville showed his pace as he dotted the ball before it went dead.
The ball clearly bounced on the deadball line before the fullback touched it down but the referee still gave the score…the epitome of a Barbarians match.
Bath kept the hurt coming for Scott Robertson’s men as they got themselves another try les than five minutes later, this time south west outfit swooping on Barbarian mistake. In BaaBaa’s fashion an audacious offload attempt from former Worcester Warrior and Wasp Francois Houguaard didn’t go to hand and after a number of fumbles the ball found itself in Bath’s flyhalf Orlando Bailey’s hands. He fought off the attempted tackle of Lam and then had the presence of mind to offload to a rampaging Miles Reid increasing the host’s lead to seven.
Following a wild first 10 minutes that gave us three try’s each team struggled to get over the line for the next 20 minutes, however that didn’t stop the flair of the BaaBaa’s. Damien McKenzie showed there’s levels to the game as he managed to create space in the most impossible scenarios, the most notable being him breaking out of his own 22 and helping his team march deep into Bath’s half.
The final score before half-time came following a major timing error from the Bath backs. A set piece move from a scrum that went wrong as winger Will Butt didn’t run his looping run quick enough and it resulted in Bailey passing to no one…outside centre Aumua swooped on the loose ball like a hawk and raced away under the sticks from 60 metres out almost taking out the barrier with his head.
During the break Bath confirmed what a lot of people already knew; the signing of former Wasp’s star-boy Alfie Barbeary. The young forward is still side-lined with hamstring injury but was optimistic he’d be donning the blue, black and white very soon.
Aumua got a Barbarian brace in the first-half and Lam got another Barbarian brace in the second-half. His first try would’ve made his uncle Pat Lam proud, 10 minutes of back and forth from either team saw McKenzie finally break the game apart with a lovely floated cross-field kick to Lam who decided he didn’t feel like getting tackled as he stepped Bailey, Jonathan Joseph and Matt Gallagher to finish off a classic BaaBaa’s try.
Lam had to wait for second try because returning England man Joe Cokanasiga came off the bench and dotted down in the corner for Bath’s third try of the game. After almost butchering it some fast hands from Bailey allowed for Joseph to get on an outside arch, he could’ve scored it himself but selflessly gave it to the hulking winger.
Earlier in the week the men in the black and white strip had played Harlequins where they fell off heavily around the 60 minute however, this week the BaaBaa’s stayed in the fight and took the lead once again through Lam. A very boring finish by Barbarian standards, they worked the Bath defence over multiple phases until McKenzie spotted their opposition were short on the flanks and he propelled a rugby league esc pass to Lam to trot over for his second of the game.
If there’s anything that we’ve learned about this season it’s that they carry on playing until the final whistle and this was evident as they scored their final try of the game with about nine minutes of the game. A superb kick to the corner from Gallagher placed them five metres out from the try-line, a perfect set-piece maul saw replacement flanker Wesley White crash over the line in a mess of bodies. Bailey missed the conversion but slotted a penalty ,much to the crowd dismay, soon after to give Bath a 30-28 lead heading into the final minute.
Then out of the jaws of defeat the player of the match himself Damien McKenzie produced an almighty 40 metre drop goal to send Robertson and the rest of the Barbarian’s bench into delirium, Final Score Barbarians 31-30 Bath.
