I'll have interviews with Julian Salvi and Michael Claassens in Thursday's Bath Chronicle following Bath Rugby's tremendous win at Twickenham, but until then, here's my take on the game against Wasps
Wasps 19, Bath Rugby 35
In all but name, this was a Guinness Premiership quarter-final. And Wasps were left hung, drawn and quartered by a swashbuckling executioner.
It may have been a smouldering Danny Cipriani - clutching an enormous sword - who graced the cover of the programme for this St George’s Day match. But Wasps’ poster boy was cut down to size by Olly Barkley, whose return to Twickenham served as one huge slap round the face for the England selectors.
Barkley, who last played for his country in the summer of 2008, did everything other than walk on water. Inspirational in defence, inspired in attack and ice cool from the kicking-tee, the Bath inside centre was an irrepressible and irresistible bundle of energy that Wasps could not contain.
He only returned to action in February after a broken leg. And his remarks after the final whistle will be as welcome to opposition defenders as a Taser shot from a rogue cop.
“I don’t feel nearly as fit or as fast as I can be,” said Barkley.
Well, Barkley was fit enough to direct Bath’s backline magnificently for the full 80 minutes, despite the warm April sunshine. And he was fast enough to track back and put in a try-saving tackle on Wasps and England wing Paul Sackey.
The inside centre was on the money with six out of seven shots on goal, set up two tries and scored one of his own. It was a performance of guile, guts and consistency.
Wasps did a superb job of ensuring this Saint’s Day clash was an occasion of tremendous theatre. British troops abseiled into the ground bearing super-sized flags of St George, and Land of Hope and Glory was belted out before the first whistle. But although the land at Twickenham may be about to become an annual home from home for Wasps, all the hope and glory was Bath’s on Saturday.
With Barkley scoring 20 points and Joe Maddock scoring a hat-trick of tries, the scoresheet may - in years to come - suggest that this was a game distinguished by great solo performances. But this match was about the collective.
It was about a squad of players who, for all their aching muscles and ebbing sugar levels, won their third game in eight days, thereby leapfrogging Wasps and London Irish into the top four.
Hooker Lee Mears’ contribution in the loose was exceptional, locks Danny Grewcock and Stuart Hooper were omnipresent, and the loose forwards slogged their guts out, comfortably outshining the more than handy Wasps backrow of Rees, Worsley and Ward-Smith.
Not to be outdone, the backs played with unremitting composure, energy and pace. Fly-half Butch James’s distribution was exquisite, full-back Nick Abendanon enhanced his reputation as the best broken-play runner in the Premiership, and skipper Michael Claassens kept his side on the front foot, despite having a nasty vomiting and diarrhoea bug.
Before Saturday, referee Wayne Barnes had officiated at 16 Bath matches - and Bath had won just five of them. And during the early exchanges that trend looked set to continue, with Cipriani landing two goals after Bath were penalised for straying offside and tackling high.
But then Barkley stepped forward and, kerpow, Bath put 18 points past their hosts in just 11 minutes.
After slotting over a 45m penalty goal with quarter-of-an-hour gone, Barkley was instrumental in Maddock’s first two tries. He drew the defence perfectly for the first, before setting up the second with a show-and-go dash through the Londoners’ midfield.
Bath lost Abendanon to the sin-bin in the 29th minute after he body-checked Tom Varndell. But Bath’s defence held firm during the full-back’s absence, despite Wasps sending wave after wave of runners into the under-manned Bath backline.
Cipriani fired over two more penalties and with Wasps dominating ball and territory in the opening minutes of the second half, the match was finely poised at 12-18.
But Maddock eased Bath nerves in the 57th minute by latching on to a Cipriani miss-pass and touching down between the posts. It was a game-breaking score, and Wasps’ resolve was broken.
Barkley slotted the conversion and then put the game well beyond the London side’s reach by landing a penalty and converting his own try.
“I think Olly’s going to travel to Australia for the England tour after that performance,” said Bath head coach Steve Meehan. “If it was up to me, I’d have him on the plane.”
Barkley, who admitted he received a phone call from England attack coach Brian Smith recently, was circumspect about whether he’d be adding to his 26 caps this summer.
“First things first, I want to get Bath into a Guinness Premiership final,” he remarked.
Wasps grabbed a consolation try in the 79th minute, just after Bath lost flanker Julian Salvi to the sin-bin for killing the ball. But Ben Jacobs’ effort was too little too late for a side which, after years of shattering other clubs’ play-off hopes, had received a taste of its own medicine.
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