This was the day Gloucester were bound to overcome the weight of history. They had not won in 11 league visits to the Rec, but there they sat perched on top of the Zurich Premiership, about to lord it over their traditional rivals. Bath, if not in decline, are supposed to be going through an uncomfortable 'regrouping' phase.
Gloucester were indeed the superior side yesterday, but they could not win. With a minute remaining, the calm left boot of Olly Barkley slotted over his sixth penalty, the one that drew a scrappy, ferocious game. No matter that Gloucester had scored the two tries of the match and dominated for the majority of the time. Bath, now incapable of gliding delicately past their opponents with pedigree sprinters, dug deep, hung on and gave Barkley enough chances to keep them in the game. They never truly threatened the Gloucester line. But to the delight of most of a capacity crowd, they stole the draw.
I don't suppose it was ever going to be a pretty game. Despite sublime conditions - they were playing genteel games of tennis in shirtsleeves on the other side of the Rec - there was too much local pride at stake and too many hefty defenders spread across the field to allow a free-flowing game. James Simpson-Daniel and Marcel Garvey occasionally strutted their stuff, but this was not a game for dashers.
Chris Malone hinted that Bath rely more on the boot than the dash with a composed 40-metre drop goal early on, but this was soon cancelled out by two penal ties from Ludovic Mercier, one of which resulted from needless scuffling by Nathan Thomas at a set scrum. The scrums were often a mess, but my impression was that Gloucester usually had the upper hand here.
But away from the scrums we witnessed a mirror image of the traditions of these two clubs. Just occasionally Gloucester were enterprising and incisive, eager to feed their two young flying wingers. Bath, by contrast, were laborious, devoid of ideas, but hanging on grimly.
Midway through a scrappy first half Gloucester scored their first try. It stemmed from a basic error by Barkley. He diverted a raking kick from Mercier into touch when under no sort of pressure. From the ensuing line-out Gloucester rumbled and fed the ball to the lively Andy Gomarsall, who broke through before presenting James Forrester with an easy stroll to the line.
Bath rallied. Without threatening the line they kept the ball and pummelled forward, inducing two penalties that were put away by Barkley so that Gloucester led only by 11-9 at half-time.
Gloucester began the second in total control. They camped in the Bath half and eventually their pressure was rewarded. Slick hands fed the ball to Henry Paul, who converted his own try (Mercier, crucially as it turned out, was off target with his place-kicking so Paul had to take over).
Bath, now nine points adrift, rallied again. Their goal by their old enterprising standards seemed modest - get the ball in the Gloucester half and wait for the penalty. Three were awarded, three were kicked and Barkley was suddenly the toast of Bath.
Bath: Barkley; Danielli, Crockett, Tindall, Voyce; Malone, Cooper; Emms (Barnes 56), Humphreys (Mears 56), Galasso (Mallet 70), Beattie, Grewcock (capt), G Thomas (Lloyd 70), Lyle, N Thomas.
Pens: Barkley (6). Drop goal: Malone.
Gloucester: Paul; Garvey, Fanolua, Todd (Delport 54), Simpson-Daniel; Mercier, Gomarsall; Roncero. Fortey (Azam 56), Vickery (capt), Fidler, Cornwell, Boer, Forrester, Paramore.
Tries: Forrester, Paul. Con: Paul. Pens: Mercier (2), Paul.
Referee: Steve Leyshon (Bristol).
Attendance: 8,200
