Rugby Union: Bath prevail in hypnotic battle of big hitters

Bath 27 Brive 25

It seemed too much to hope for after the red-mist pandemonium of Le Toulzac, the only bar in France that can truly claim Claret Punch and Brandy Smash as specialities of the house. Yet the burly battalions of Bath and Brive did the old game proud on Saturday; scarcely a boot out of place or a fist raised in anger, no flying furniture, no shattered glass and not a single tear gas canister in sight. From bar-room brawl to vicarage tea party in less than a week.

Actually, there was nothing half-hearted or conciliatory about the occasion, nothing pale or pallid. On the contrary, it was a wonderfully vivid encounter - every bit as hypnotic and very nearly as physical as the now notorious Brive-Pontypridd scrap that scarred the previous Sabbath - and when the sides meet again in the crackling bullring of the Parc Municipal des Sports in a little under a fortnight, the paying public may well find another slice of haute rugby laid before it for its delectation.

Strange to relate, the Frenchmen took more positives from their first ever reverse in the Heineken Cup than Bath found in defeating the reigning champions. If ever a side might have been excused a flat performance, it was Brive on Saturday; having failed in their over-optimistic attempt to obtain a postponement following the paralysing trauma of the Ponty affair, they arrived in England muddled in mind, battered in body and sombre in spirit. Yet by the end of the first quarter they had scored bewitching tries through Pascal Bomati and Jerome Carrat to open up a 15-6 advantage.

Had it not been for the sonata performed by Jim Fleming on his penny whistle - the Scottish referee blew the visitors out of the water with a scarcely credible four-to-one penalty count in favour of Bath - they would surely have prevailed. Alain Penaud, David Venditti and, most spectacularly of all, Lisandro Arbizu wove such mesmeric patterns in midfield that the West Countrymen, no paupers in that area themselves, could only stand and admire the rival aristocracy at work.

Only Fleming, the Judge Jeffreys of the tackle law, could keep Bath afloat in those opening minutes; he gave Jon Callard, captain once again in the prolonged absence of Andy Nicol, five shots at goal in the first 20 minutes or so and the full-back took advantage of three of them. It was enough to prevent Brive disappearing into the wide blue yonder and once Mark Regan, Nigel Redman and the rest of the heavy mob in the home tight five rolled up their sleeves and got down to some serious business, the tide turned slowly but decisively.

"I thought the referee was exceptionally good in and around the tackle area," said Andy Robinson, the Bath coach, in time-honoured "he would say that, wouldn't he" fashion. And in his frustratingly pedantic way, Fleming was good, maintaining a consistency of approach all too rare among top-level referees. If he failed to spot some of the darker arts performed by Brive at the line-out - at one point, Richard Webster generously volunteered to sort out the miscreants personally, but Fleming uncharitably rejected his offer - the ebb and flow of the proceedings suggested a degree of sympathy in the midst of all the whistling and arm-waving.

But refereeing remains a desperate problem at European and international level, for the most obvious of linguistic reasons. The French are the one nation repeatedly confronted by officials with whom they cannot communicate and as Callard readily admitted on Saturday, they suffer as a result. "It's difficult for them, that's for sure," he agreed, "especially as there is more and more talking on the pitch these days, with players attempting to influence decisions. Sometimes, the French know full well why they are being penalised, but sometimes I think they are genuinely mystified."

Importantly, given the fact that the entire rugby world was following their every move, Brive did not allow their grievances to override their judgement. Even though Matt Perry capitalised on some thunderous work from his front five forwards to stretch over on the half-hour and Mike Catt gave Sebastian Viars the run-around to complete a fine solo score three minutes into the second period, Arbizu's alertness in getting the first hand to a loose ball in the Bath in-goal area sent the Frenchmen into the final quarter a point to the good at 22-21.

In the end, though, it boiled down to Fleming and his penalties. For all the prodigious efforts of Loic van der Linden and Francois Duboisset in the Brive back row, Bath's more concerted forward effort forced two more straightforward opportunities for Callard on 60 and 65 minutes. Arbizu interrupted the sequence with a three-point strike of his own but fluffed a long-range, 79th-minute effort that would have secured the spoils.

"We could have had better preparation for a match such as this," said Laurent Seigne, the Brive coach, in one of the understatements of the rugby century. "I thought the referee was too strict with us but this was a real match played against good competitors. For us, it is a rugby dream to play matches like this. I can accept winning one day and losing the next when the game is played in the style we saw here."

Whether style is still the raison d'etre of Brive when the solids hit the air conditioning on 5 October remains to be seen. Robinson knows full well that Bath will need attitude with a capital "A" if they are to complete a famous double and while he responded Seigne's complimentary comments with some kind words of his own, he added a barb or two for good measure.

"The pace and handling skills possessed by every single one of their players are incredible, but we'll play a simple way, a pressure way, in Brive and they'll panic, I hope. Their ground doesn't intimidate us; hell, we want to play against the best and they're the champions, so it's got to be the finest place to visit, not the worst. What is there to be frightened of?" The mind games have started already.

Bath: Tries Perry, Catt. Conversion Callard. Penalties Callard 5. Brive: Tries Bomati, Carrat, Arbizu. Conversions Arbizu 2. Penalties Arbizu 2.

Bath: J Callard (capt); I Evans (J Sleightholme, 77), P de Glanville, M Perry, A Adebayo; M Catt, R Pellow; D Hilton, M Regan, V Ubogu, M Haag, N Redman, R Webster, S Ojomoh (D Lyle, 77), R Earnshaw.

Brive: S Viars; P Bomati, L Arbizu, D Venditti, J Carrat; A Penaud (capt), S Bonnet; O Gouaillard, L Travers, R Crespy (D Laperne, 45), Y Manhes, P Lubungu, L van der Linden (O Magne, 38), F Duboisset, R Sonnes.

Referee: J Fleming (Scotland).