Match thread Bath v Wasps

[Wombles]

Have just watched the red card incident. Not sure what was worse, the "clear out" or the Bath Captain trying to argue against the decision. Did himself no favours and I wouldn't be against further action against him.

One thing I spotted as Wasps were getting the ball out wide when Tempest stopped play was Josh Bayliss going very high at Vaea. Had Vaea not seen him coming and ducked out the way, I'm not sure Tempest would have been able to avoid giving two red cards.

The red card was awful....but if a teams captain can STILL not see what was wrong with it, then the problem is bigger than we would like it to be. Professional rugby players should know the laws inside out, and also know what will be a red card offence. And given what we are trying to do given head injuries for players to be doing this, and a captain not understanding why its wrong is very bad!

[MarleyWasp]

It's gone unnoticed, but Jimmy is now Wasps second highest all time Premiership points scorer. He has scored 904 points and gas moved ahead of Kenny Logan (891) and Mark van Gisbergen (903) in recent weeks. Alex King is top with exactly 1,000 points.

[andermt]

Anthony Watson tweeted the following yesterday about the red.

😂😂😂 here we go again. Where is he supposed to wrap?! Obsurd decision

Someone pointed out that if this is what Baths senior international players think, no wonder they give away so many penalties.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

What he is supposed to do is come in at a slow speed, bind arms, shoulder to shoulder, and push. Not come in like an Exocet, with his arm slamming up from underneath.

I can't help but feel he will got an upper level punishment. The first reason to send a message that coming in like this is not acceptable (there has been a lot of negative press over the months about how bad and unsafe this sort of clearout is), and I suspect outcome will also have a bearing. We lost a very valuable points scoring player and a key decision maker. He was knocked out. Even when he did get back up, he was back down again and had to be stretchered off.

I am glad that Jimmy is up and about, but he really should take more than 6 days out. That was a nasty knock.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Anthony Watson tweeted the following yesterday about the red.

😂😂😂 here we go again. Where is he supposed to wrap?! Obsurd decision

Someone pointed out that if this is what Baths senior international players think, no wonder they give away so many penalties.

If that's indicative of a wider paranoia in the Bath camp they've a long way to go before they turn the corner. 

[WonkyWasp]

......  and they can't spell 'Absurd' properly either.   (can't be 'fat finger' unless their finger is  six inches wide of course).

[Rossm]

Doesn't Williams have a bit of previous?

[MarleyWasp]

Anthony Watson tweeted the following yesterday about the red.

😂😂😂 here we go again. Where is he supposed to wrap?! Obsurd decision

Someone pointed out that if this is what Baths senior international players think, no wonder they give away so many penalties.

I think it's absurd that an England international a) cannot spell absurd when presumably using a phone with spellcheck on and b) thinks it's ok to charge into a ruck at speed straight onto the neck/head area, knocking him out cold.

[InBetweenWasp]

“Not round his neck, mate” is probably the simplest explanation back to Watson.

[Shugs]

That’s extremely naive. It’s safe to assume if you’ve knocked someone unconscious you’ve made contact with the wrong area. Watsons comment is brainless. Moreover Williams was going to gain absolutely nothing if he’d cleared Jimmy out legally - which makes his actions brainless as well.

[MarleyWasp]

As if to sum up how clueless Bath players seem to be on the laws of the game: Wasps knock on, ref calls a scrum, the Bath 6 takes a tap penalty and starts running to the try line.

[Jack9909]

Just watched the highlights and for JTA's yellow it looks like the maul has splintered and there is no other player bound to the ball carrier when JTA pulls it down.

At what point does this stop being collapsing the maul and become just a tackle? I'd assume for it to remain a maul it would require multiple players bound?

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Just watched the highlights and for JTA's yellow it looks like the maul has splintered and there is no other player bound to the ball carrier when JTA pulls it down.

At what point does this stop being collapsing the maul and become just a tackle? I'd assume for it to remain a maul it would require multiple players bound?

I thought the same. The ball carrier was on his own.

[Raggs]

The maul can break up and still be a maul, there were still players in front when he dragged it down and I think he at least was attached the whole time which increases the chances the ref will see it as a maul still.

[Nigel Med]

Can't help wondering if Stuart Hooper is living on borrowed time. Yes they're trying to manage an injury crisis at a similar level to ours but they've been under-performing for years. I've always looked at their squad and thought that with the personnel they've got they should be challenging for top four year after year but they rarely offer any sustained consistency. Hooper is a thoroughly decent guy, I wish him no ill and obviously he's a Bath man through and through but particularly now that they have a new CEO I think the pressure on him to get some decent results is going to be massive.