Rugby Union: Barnes leads way to crown

Midlands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

South-West. . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

THAT disparate army from the South-West finally buried their own traditional, bitter rivalries to unite and win the ADT Divisional Championship. A bruising last battle against the Midlands ended in deadlock, but they won the campaign to take the trophy.

After many long seasons of dismal failure as fine players from Bath, Bristol and Gloucester could together produce barely a single victory, the South-West finally gelled into a resilient unit.

At Leicester yesterday, these men from the west were tested virtually to breaking point by a fierce Midlands pack that rampaged forward relentlessly. But they soaked up the pressure and kept enough control to avoid defeat.

It was really a victory for the Gloucester coach Keith Richardson, who has built a unified team on a bedrock of Bath players. In particular, that club's forwards - Ben Clarke and Nigel Redman notable among them - and its half-backs: Stuart Barnes and Richard Hill were irrepressible, while Jeremy Guscott was the classiest act on a star-studded bill.

Barnes, though, was the linchpin. He controlled the match brilliantly, passing or kicking with perfect judgement. He set the South-West victory in train with a finely-timed pass that missed a centre and made the space for the Bath full-back Jonathan Callard to scramble over.

Clarke at No 8 was also an immense presence, overshadowing even his England predecessor Dean Richards. He was strong in defence and attack, but combined that with a shrewd reading of the game that put him always in the right place. He had a hand in the second South-West try, distributing the ball neatly to put order into a confused melee on the Midlands' line. The Bristol second row Andy Blackmore merely had to fall over to claim the try.

The Midlands played throughout to their traditional forward strengths and profited by it with their opening try when a string of attempts at a pushover finally saw Richards succeed.

Their second try was somewhat more elegant. The Leicester flanker Neil Back took the ball on in broken play before releasing the centre Stuart Potter.

Back indeed had been the focus of attention. Earlier in the week the people who run English rugby had deemed him at 5ft 10in too diminutive for the national squad, so he had been out to prove that 'size doesn't matter; it's what you do with it that counts'. In the end, he didn't really advance his case. He did not stand out in the bigger company of a Divisional clash. Certainly, he covered the whole field in his usual busy fashion, but he never really convinced that he was any better than the host of high-class players around him. He was good but not excellent.

That kind of test though - above club level - is just what Twickenham says makes the tournament worthwhile. But otherwise there were few signs of its worth. There were acres of spare seats yesterday and little passion to warm a crowd otherwise chilled to the bone. There were loud cheers for some fine rugby, but any partisan spirit came as the local supporters backed the eight local players.

But whatever those doubts, yesterday's game did show the benefit of giving international hopefuls a platform above that of the club game on which to perform. On yesterday's evidence, the England side have ample material for another strong international season.

The other man with a point to prove was the referee Fred Howard who learnt on Thursday that he is no longer required for England's Championship panel. He replied with an authoritative performance, allowing the game to flow but, above all, snuffing out any trouble at the first hint of an explosion. From the moment he sternly laid down the law to Hill for attempted decapitation in a high tackle, the game never seemed in danger of boiling over unacceptably. Odd outbursts of thuggery were spotted and penalised so that fierce passion never descended to bloodlust.

MIDLANDS: J Liley (Leicester); F Packman (Northampton), S Potter, I Bates, (Leicester), H Thorneycroft (Northampton); R Angell (Coventry), M Dawson (Northampton); M Linnett (Moseley), J Olver (Northampton), D Garforth, M Johnson (both Leicester), S Lloyd, P Shillingford (both Moseley), N Back, D Richards (both Leicester, capt). Replacement: R Cockerill (Coventry) for Olver, 35 min.

SOUTH-WEST: J Callard (Bath); N Beal (Northampton), J Guscott, P de Glanville (both Bath), S Morris (Gloucester); S Barnes (capt), R Hill (both Bath); C Clark (Swansea), K Dunn (Wasps), D Crompton, N Redman (both Bath), A Blackmore (Bristol), J Hall, A Robinson, B Clarke (all Bath).

Referee: F Howard (Liverpool).

Scorers: Barnes (pen, 13 min, 0-3); Callard (try, 21 min, 0-8); Richards (try, 29 min, 5-8); Liley (pen, 43 min, 8-8); Callard (pen, 47 min, 8-11); Potter/Liley (try/conv, 51 min, 15-11); Blackmore/Callard (try/conv, 75 min, 15-18); Liley (pen, 80 min, 18-18).

(Photograph omitted)