Barkley: Bows out with Bath win
Bath inflicted a fifth consecutive defeat on Sale after beating the struggling club 31-10 at the Recreation Ground on Saturday.
In a cagey first half, much of the action took place in the middle of the field and both sides struggled to create any clear try-scoring opportunities. The home side were able to rely on the metronomic boot of Olly Barkley to take advantage of the Sharks' ill-discipline though.
The Bath fly-half, who was playing his last game for the club before joining Racing Metro, showed the West County faithful exactly what they will be missing as he kicked four penalties out of four.
Meanwhile, his opposite number Nick Macleod was far less successful from the tee, kicking just one of three attempts to leave Sale trailing by 12-3 at the break.
The hosts did look more threatening in the opening stages of the second half and, after a concerted spell of pressure, prop David Wilson bulldozed his way over to give Bath some more breathing space.
The Sharks, who are rooted to the foot of the Premiership table without a win and sacked their forwards coach Steve Scott this week, didn't give up the ghost though and Kiwi centre Johnny Leota gave them hope with a try midway through the half.
That was as close as they got though and the home side pulled away in the final ten minutes to make the scoreline appear more comfortable than it was.
Captain Stuart Hooper scored first after a powerful lineout drive from the Bath forwards. And, after Andy Powell was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle, the depleted Sale scrum was unable to cope with the pressure exerted on it and the referee was forced to award a penalty try.
Barkley slotted over the conversion with ease to finish the game with 16 points on his last outing for the club and he leaves Bath looking upwards as the Sharks ponder where the first win of the season might come from.
The scorers:
For Bath:
Tries: Wilson, Hooper, Penalty try
Con: Barkley 2
Pen: Barkley 4
For Sale:
Try: Leota
Con: Macleod
Pen: Macleod
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Kyle Eastmond, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Stephen Donald, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Olly Barkley, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Ben Skirving, 6 Carl Fearns, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Stuart Hooper (c), 3 David Wilson, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Dominic Day, 20 Will Skuse, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Sam Vesty, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Sale: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Cillian Willis, 8 Andy Powell, 7 David Seymour (capt), 6 James Doyle, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Fraser McKenzie, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Eifion Lewis-Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Joe Ward, 17 Vadim Cobilas, 18 Aston Croall, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Will Addison.
Referee: Sean Davey
Comments
APV1 says...
@ heart_of_oak - he got a start this week, which was an improvement. D-Day was benched, so he was in with Hoops.
I have no idea who's sister he's slept with, but he's not even getting a look in at England level and I still don't know why.
Burns and 12Trees make a good combo and I think our 10-12-13 combo is the biggest headache. Not in any order:
10 - Flood - Farrell - Ford - Burns (Hodgson, Heathcote, Lamb, Cips)
12 - 12trees - Farrell - Barritt - JTH - JJ
13 - Tuilagi - JJ -
Who've I missed? I'm tired and can't think of the others...
I like the idea of Burns - 12trees - Tuilagi. But I'd also understand picking your players for the opposition. Fiji, as an example, are faster and more "electric", so pick faster players to catch them - 12trees & JJ, perhaps. SA are (usually!) a little more direct, so a more solid midfield - Barritt & Tuilagi - might be more appropriate.
Posted 17:45 02nd October 2012
heart_of_oak says...
APV1 - what's the view of Attwood so far this season ? I saw that in earlier games he was only making the bench. I had hoped for an England 2nd row paring of Attwood and Courtney but DA's been on the bench and Courtney was playing at 6 for the Saints. I must admit, I like the idea of CL in the back row because he's damn fast and will disrupt opposition play. On the other hand, we have good flankers right now e.g. Wood, Croft, Robshaw - Steffon Armitage can't get a look in and he's been playing well in France. So perhaps a 2nd row of Attwood and Parling with CL, somewhere in the back row, could give the scrum a bit more speed and mobility. Having said that, I like Ben Morgan and think he can do well for England as a number 8.
Oh for back line players of the same calibre that we have in the scrum. Someone was posting recently that Burns and Twelvetrees should be the 10-12 combination. Would that work ? Haven't seen much of them but at least Gloucester play a more attacking brand of Rugby than Sarries and if we went that route, we might get a more flowing game.
Posted 20:18 01st October 2012
APV1 says...
I tried to follow the match on twitter - not the most satisfying way to get the information. Seemed like we were grinding out the win in the forwards and, once again, not using our back three.
We have to get it out to Biggs, Eastmond and Bendy more. Seems that Beaver had an ok day at 12 too.
We will miss OB, though.
Posted 10:27 01st October 2012
melkdave says...
Well as expected except i thought it would be a close game,.Guess the turmoil at Sale was worse than i thoughtThey need a couple more class players quickly ,that much is obvious .
Posted 17:02 29th September 2012