Bath Book Their Final Place

Bath completed a remarkable turnaround in their
fortunes on Saturday as they thrashed bitter West country rivals Gloucester 41-7 to assure themselves of an automatic place in the English Premiership final at Twickenham on May 29th.

Last season a final match victory over Gloucester had ensured they
survived
in the Premiership on points difference but this time the emotions
were quite
different as they ran in four second-half tries to their rivals one
to wrap up
a highly successful league campaign under Australian coach John
Connolly.
Even defeat would not have affected their topping the table as
European Cup
finalists Wasps were at the receiving end of a record home defeat,
48-17, by a
revitalised Leicester, who ran in six tries.

Wasps, the reigning champions, will face a tough clash with
Northampton to
see if they will play Bath in the showpiece final but with the
European Cup
final also at Twickenham on May 23rd Lawrence Dallaglio’s team face a
demanding
month.

Bath’s renaissance was a suitable farewell season for England’s
South
African-born centre Mike Catt, who is leaving after over a decade at
the club
for London Irish.
“It is disappointing to have to leave,” said Catt, whose
performances at
the World Cup especially in the quarter-final against Wales were
instrumental
in England’s victory.

“The last few weeks have been tough, but we showed we are the
champions.
I thought (Australian fly-half) Chris Malone was fantastic,
and Robbie
Fleck is coming into his own.

“It is 10-12 years of fantastic fun but it is a pity to move
on.
Hopefully I will play in the final but it is an opportunity
for the
younger boys to get some silverware.”

Catt said that they would be celebrating in rather different style
to the
usual pubstyle.
“We’ve got a Ladies night with 250 of them coming where the
boys will
parade their stuff!”

Bath’s Australian coach John ‘Knuckles’ Connolly paid handsome
troubte to
his players for turning it around, though his investment in 14 new
players in
the close season was credited by Catt as the main difference.
“It is a great achievement and a tribute to the
players,” said Connolly,
who was part of the Wallaby backroom in their 1991 World Cup triumph.

“The last couple of weeks we have been playing well in
patches and then
dropping away, but today we played well for the 80 minutes,”
added Connolly,
who guided Stade Francais to the 2001 European Cup final where they
lost to
Leicester.
Connolly, though, said that he would keep the players sharp in the
three
week gap between Saturday’s match and the final unlike Gloucester
last year
who finished top but were beaten by Wasps in the one-off match.

“They’ll have three days off and then we’ll organise a four
day training
camp and a friendly, so as to keep up to match sharpness,” said
Connolly.

A shellshocked Gloucester handler Nigel Melville had few excuses.
“That was a humiliation, for anyone to do with Gloucester
rugby club,” said
the former England scrum-half.

Gloucester will still have a chance to earn the final European Cup
spot as
they are in the wild card play-offs along with Leicester Harlequins,
whose
comeback against Northampton saw them end up one point short beaten
18-17, and
Sale, who beat Leeds 31-20.

AFP – 2004.