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 | | You are in: You are in: In Depth: Heineken Cup |
 | |  Saturday, 3 November, 2001, 16:54 GMT Mediocre Bath frustrate Scots  Bath are undefeated in Europe this term Bath 17-10 Edinburgh Heineken Cup, Pool 3 Twelve points from the boot of Matt Perry continued Bath's undefeated European run in a largely disappointing match against Edinburgh. Despite being out of the competition, the Scots arrived at The Rec clearly intending to put a dent in Bath's Heineken Cup record. Tries from Edinburgh centre Kevin Utterson and Bath flyer Tom Voyce at least gave both sets of supporters something to cheer. But when the final whistle was blown Bath had done enough to claim their fourth consecutive European win.
Bath immediately looked the better side, with Mike Catt bossing his backs superbly from fly half. The home side squandered and early try-scoring opportunity, however, when captain Dan Lyle dropped the ball despite a three-man overlap. Bath full back Perry and Edinburgh fly half Duncan Hodge then both missed opportunities to open the scoring. But the former Scottish international did not miss his second chance from in front of the posts, after Catt was penalised for offside. The opening quarter was punctuated by errors with both sides knocking on despite wonderful conditions. Perry made amends for his earlier miss to level the scores on 16 minutes. Struggling for possession the Scots began to give away penalties, allowing Perry to double his - and Bath's lead - with an easy three-pointer.
Iain Balshaw's season reached new lows on the half-hour when he slipped attempting to cover a straightforward Hodge punt. Balshaw's mistake allowed centre Kevin Utterson to kick forward and dive over for a crucial score which Hodge converted to push Edinburgh 10-6 ahead at the break. If Bath had looked the better side early on, the visitors undoubtedly deserved their half time lead. Nevertheless, it was Bath who added the first points - again through the boot of Perry. At 9-10 down the West Country side at last began to play with more purpose and with the final quarter approaching took the lead with Perry's fourth penalty of the match. With just 15 minutes to go, Edinburgh second rower Richard Metcalfe was sent to the bin for handling the ball on the floor. When Bath's try eventually arrived it was no surprise that it was created by Catt who darted through a gap in the Edinburgh defence to allow Tom Voyce to touch over. Steve Borthwick then followed Metcalfe after outrageously handling the ball on the floor meters from his own line. In the closing minutes, Edinburgh pushed the home side all the way, but Bath held out to continue their fine European form. Bath: Perry, Balshaw, Maggs, Barkley, Voyce, Catt, Williams, D. Barnes, Regan, Emms, Borthwick, Grewcock, G. Thomas, Gabey, Lyle. Replacements: Cooper, Long, Hopcroft, Crockett, Danielli, El Abd, Beattie. Edinburgh: Howarth, Murray, Di Rollo, Utterson, Sharman, Hodge, Burns, Jacobsen, Scott, Smith, Hines, Metcalfe, A. Dall, M. Taylor, G. Dall. Replacements: Brannigan, Di Ciacca, Jolly, A. Walker, Fairley, Ross, Lee. Referee: Joel Dume (France) | |
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