Bath keep play-off dream alive
19 Apr 2009
Bath took a massive step towards a semi-final place with a 15-14 victory over Newcastle at Kingston Park.
Bath rallied from 14-0 down at half-time thanks to a try from Michael Classsens, a converted five pointer from Shontayne Hape and a Ryan Davis penalty.
The narrow win now leaves them in third, joint on points with the second placed Harlequins and London Irish in fourth.
Victory over Saracens in their final league game at The Rec will secure a semi-final. They could still finish second should Quins lose to Newcastle, but defeat could see them miss the play-offs altogether should Sale beat Northampton with a bonus-point.
In other matches on Sunday, Leicester virtually assured themselves a home play-off with a 16-13 victory over Saracens at Vicarage Road. With one round remaining in the league phase the Tigers are five points clear of Quins and need just one point from their match against bottom placed Bristol next week to host a semi-final.
Earlier on Sunday, Bristol were hammered 36-18 by Wasps at the Memorial Stadium.
15 Comments
19 Apr 2009, 20:37 pm
go butch
19 Apr 2009, 21:13 pm
#1 grant10: not necessarily, this from the BBC website:
The visitors responded by hauling off the hapless James but his replacement, Davis, was just as off-target as the South African with his first two shots at goal.
If Butch is considered for the BI Lions, he can’t be our #1 kicker. He has been having shockers kicking for post, which has threatened Bath’s play-off chances.
19 Apr 2009, 21:15 pm
Butch, as lately, was having another shocker. Misses all his kicks at goal, got subbed 1min before halftime when the commentators were calling for him to be subbed for another player as he was so bad. In the end a knee injury seemed to be the reason. But ja, recently he has been pretty poor and his goal kicking has completely gone to pot.
19 Apr 2009, 21:21 pm
#2 scar: that will be ouer achilles heel again vs lions….i sense a 1997 replay …butch must be running on empty…far too much rugby gonna cost him a spot in the bok set up…
19 Apr 2009, 21:27 pm
#2 scar: I said Bath by 8, not 1 !!
19 Apr 2009, 21:56 pm
News from the other side of the Channel. Toulon captained by Big Joe beat the mighty Toulouse this weekend. Thats the equivalent of Griffons beating the Bulls. Of course Keo and Co are too slow to pick this up for a news story
19 Apr 2009, 22:56 pm
butch seriously needs to get his kciking together ,just 3 weeks ago his goalkicking was superb now he’s missing the easiste of kicks
20 Apr 2009, 01:26 am
#3 gecko: they were calling for him to be subbed because of his goal-kicking not because he was playing badly, he wasn’t.
#7 mbaxman93: even if he’s goal-kicking well you can’t rely on him to kick for SA in a test series.
20 Apr 2009, 02:14 am
#8 Big Hit: If a fly-half can’t kick, how can you say he is not playing badly? Isn’t that what he is supposed to be doing well?
20 Apr 2009, 02:43 am
interesting, Claasens and Shontayne Hape scoring the points for Bath, England call up must be imminent now…
20 Apr 2009, 04:43 am
Butch is far better when he does not have the added pressure of kicking for goal… and it’s far better for his dodgy knee too…
20 Apr 2009, 04:45 am
#10 poppa69:
Claasens has already been capped for the Boks a few times… but agreed… like Neil De Kock a few seasons back… they are hugely missed in RSA at the moment…
20 Apr 2009, 07:26 am
#9 kwas: don’t you know the difference between kicking from hand and goal-kicking?
20 Apr 2009, 18:36 pm
Butch has played 80 minutes in every single game this season for Bath. Thats about 30 games. So I dont blame him for being stuffed. The coach refuses to give him a break! Where is the back up flyhalf Davies been all season? Ok he has missed some kicks and some easy kicks… but who doesnt have thei off days.. Its not like he is trying to miss them. He didnt get subbed he got injured. You people dont know what you’re talking about. Claassens should play for the Springboks. He was the core of the game.
20 Apr 2009, 21:05 pm
#5 carol: …and I said Falcons by 1…damn!
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