Harlequins, after losing their first five Premiership matches, were expected to be in the relegation mire at the turn of the year. Instead the five-try trouncing of Newcastle on New Year's Day has been followed by this victory, where the only mire was a mudbath of a pitch. For a heady couple of hours on Saturday evening Quins were even in the top half of the table.
Andre Vos, the former Springboks captain who was outstanding in the Quins back row, said they were the worst conditions he had ever played in. For the first half-hour the rain was so heavy they could have been manning the lifeboats in the West Stand, a structure that had seemed a white elephant when the club were relegated two seasons ago. Saturday's win, Quins' third in a row, now almost banishes the cloud of relegation that had again hung over The Stoop last autumn.
Sometimes, like Gene Kelly, you just have to make the best of things even when getting drenched. The problem with playing in the wet is that a game can be reduced to farce and such was the slapstick here that Bath might as well have had Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd at half-back. Indeed, there was hardly a backline move of significance in a match decided by Adrian Jarvis's three penalties to the one by Olly Barkley.
Quins won the match through the strength of their pack, an unlikely scenario for the sceptics who had questioned the worth of their front five when the season began, and any other result would have been a bigger travesty than the weather.
The Londoners made claims for the only try of the game after 25 minutes, when Danny Care appeared to have touched down, but the referee, Dave Pearson, had spotted a knock-on seconds earlier. The scrum-half Care was excellent in a callow midfield alongside Jarvis and the young centre Jordan Turner-Hall.
Turner-Hall turned 19 only on Friday but his coach, Dean Richards, believes he is good enough to have earned a call-up to England's shadow squad, the Saxons, along with the four Quins who were picked. Turner-Hall already has a physical presence as Bath's hefty prop Rob Hawkins, dumped on his considerable backside late in the game, can confirm.
The most optimistic thing that can be said about Bath's display is that at least it prepares them for Friday night's European Challenge Cup trip to Connacht and whatever weather the west coast of Ireland throws at them. Bath's coach, Steve Meehan, admitted concern at his pack's performance, bolstered by the return of England's lock Steve Borthwick but undermined by the midweek suspensions of Danny Grewcock and Lee Mears.
Meehan does not expect to have his England prop Matt Stevens back after injury until next month and the coach's front-row resources are down to the bare bones with Dave Flatman and Duncan Bell sidelined.
A key moment of the game came minutes from time when Bath threw into a lineout five metres from the Quins line. The French lock Nicolas Spanghero snaffled the ball and Quins eventually scrambled it to safety. They were home if not quite dry.
Harlequins Brown; Strettle (Monye, h-t), Abbott, Turner-Hall, Keogh; Jarvis, Care; Croall, Fuga, Ross, Kohn, Spanghero, Vos, Volley (capt), Easter.
Pens Jarvis 3.
Bath Barkley; Maddock, Walker, Fuimaono-Sapolu, Stephenson; Berne (Malone, 65), Williams (Walshe, 52); Barnes, Dixon (Hawkins, 58), Sigley (Feaunati, 72), Borthwick (capt), Louw (Short, 50), Beattie (Fidler, 72), Scaysbrook (Delve, 52), Feaunati (Jarvis, 62). Pen Barkley.
Sin-bin Barnes, 61.
Referee D Pearson (Northumberland). Attendance 10, 920.
