Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Wasps vs Bath classic with extended highlights

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Wasps vs Bath classic with extended highlights

On a weekend where all the talk was about the Super 14's new ELV's, that are supposed to make the game faster and more exciting, we saw Wasps and Bath play a high quality game of rugby that certainly didn't require any changes in the law.

Bath winger Andrews Higgins notched the opening try for Bath in bizarre fashion, bursting through from deep inside his own half, only to seemingly run out of steam within yards of the Wasps line.

But his stray off-load was knocked back to him by a Wasps hand, allowing him to canter in and score, but not before turning back in the wrong direction, almost inviting the tackler to catch him. A rather comical finish to a great try.

The rest of the game proved to be anything but slow, and the theory that rugby as it is needs the new Experimental Law Variations was put to boot. It's not an open and shut case, but this game certainly proved that the game as we know it is still alive and well.

Wasps overcame a 20-13 halftime lead to come out eventual winners 42 - 34 after an amazing second half comeback.

It was a remarkable afternoon at the Rec, and although I don't normally post videos this long, I thought a lot of you out there would appreciate this one.

Note: All tries are shown which means the video is 10 mins long

this is the first premiership match i have ever seen that was exciting english rugby..what a boar

By Anonymous, at February 19, 2008 10:32 pm
Lewsey for prime minister.

By Anonymous, at February 19, 2008 10:55 pm
awesome game! good work RD! would of loved to have seen it all...

By Anonymous, at February 19, 2008 11:20 pm
The point is this game is an anomaly. The majority of games in the premiership are incredibly dull and of absolutely no interest to the average spectator.

The Super 14 last year was undeniably the best brand of rugby in the world without ELVs. These rules are supposed to improve on that. The premiership would benefit far more from these rules but who is to say that the Super 14 sides won't become even more enjoyable to watch, showing off the skill and pace to greater effect.

By Anonymous, at February 19, 2008 11:24 pm
Nice one RD. I was there... which pretty much meant I didn't see any of this!

By Anonymous, at February 20, 2008 1:26 am
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

By Anonymous, at February 20, 2008 3:42 am
yeah im from australia and watch about 8 or so Guinness premiership games a year thru setanta and fox and whilst some moments of exciting appear, most of the games are boring and slow...dont get me wrong i dont mind watching a tight game, but once u see some really great rugby, u wonder why more games arent like it, and start to get bored of scrum, scrum, scrum, lineout, kick, kick, penalty goal, drop goal, scrum

the super 14 has been lacking in quality of the last season or so, but its way more entertaining and better quality.......

one major misconception with the ELVs is that it takes away from the set piece.....i disagree, the amount of scrums and lineouts might decrease, but its still just as important to nail ur scrums and lineouts

By Anonymous, at February 20, 2008 4:37 am
Hang on lads, I don't think you're being very fair to the Premiership here.

More regular Premiership viewers than you guys will know that there are plenty of exciting games. Premiership attendance is at an all time high so there must be something in Premiership rugby to excite the average spectator.

The comparison between Super 14 and Premiership is unfair though as the Premiership is a domestic league and Super 14 involves virtually all the international squad players from three different countries. Try comparing the Premiership to your domestic leagues...

A far fairer comparison is between Heineken Cup rugby and Super 14. Anybody who has watched Heineken Cup over the past couple of seasons will tell you that it regularly produces international standard matches.

Personally I would like to see the winners of the Heineken Cup play the winners of the Super 14 - THAT would be a good game, surely we can all agree on that?

By Anonymous, at February 20, 2008 9:27 am
How is lewsey not in the England squad? Had an awesome game. Great to see Wasps break Baths home record.

By cp85, at February 20, 2008 10:21 am
So funny how the SH keep hyping up the Super 14, the opening weekend was dreadful. Lil bit of rain in the Crusaders game and they all played like a bunch of high schoolers. Yawn, quit with the moaning.

By Anonymous, at February 20, 2008 10:50 am
good point will, i reckon that would be a great match - and it's definately fair to say that you have stupidly strong teams in the super 14, although having said that, i don't know how lewsey isn't classed as international standard.

By Anonymous, at February 20, 2008 10:54 am
Dave, you don't understand mate - Brian Ashton apparently doesn't want a full back that offers what Lewsey offers. He's quite right, I mean other than excellent defence and scintillating attacking skills, Lewsey has nothing. Now Balshaw on the other hand, wowee, he's got the whole package - dodgy tackling, inability to catch high balls, dreadful decision making...

By Anonymous, at February 20, 2008 11:10 am
While we are forming the Josh Lewsey fan club I thought I'd point out his massive hand off on Abendanon. It was during Lewsey's 2nd try at about 5 min 35 secs.
He handed him off with such strength Abendanon bounced off the turf. Suprised the commentators didn't pick up on that.

By Anonymous, at February 20, 2008 3:00 pm
hahaha will. balshaw had some good runs though against wales - ish, but lewsey is just so much better. he could've at least been cover in the first 30odd. and that handoff was great - right in the face

By Anonymous, at February 20, 2008 4:02 pm
i heard lewsey had a huge arguement wit ashton and so he weren't picked! Not entirely sure how true that is but with the way lewsey is playing theres definetly something wrong there!!

By Anonymous, at February 20, 2008 4:35 pm
i love that hand off from lewsey on his 2nd try!

By Anonymous, at February 20, 2008 8:56 pm
anyone know where i can get my hands on this game? (diwana's been down for a while, any news on that?)

By Anonymous, at February 22, 2008 9:10 pm
balshaw definately defied his critics yesterday. he was brilliant. caught everything, never shaky, tackled well, good positioning etc, lewsey can't do that, all he does is run and make internationally famous try-saving tackles.

By Anonymous, at February 24, 2008 10:40 pm
If you want fast running rugby all game long then don't change the rules just watch rugby league. Personally it's the nuances of the union game that make it more compelling. Can a team with a huge lumbering pack gain the upper hand over the swifter better handling backs of another? Different match situations, weather and competitions require different styles and by watching the opening weekends of the super 14 I can't see that the ELV's are making it any more of a spectacle than the Premiership or Heineken Cup. Let's just give them time and make a valued judgment rather than damning them straight away.

By Anonymous, at February 26, 2008 3:26 am
It is beyond me hoe Balshaw was given the no.15 place without Lewsey even being considered.

By Anonymous, at March 05, 2008 5:03 am
Well, we now all know how the ELV's seem to have destroyed everything exciting about the Super 14 and it's absolutely no improvement! M
It also makes me doubt all those people who keep insisting the Super 14 players have higher skill levels (the Kiwis probably do!).

The difference between the Premiership and Super14 is twofold; first there's the relegation factor (and the H-Cup qualifying spots), and secondly the weather; there's a big difference between Manchester in January and Durban or Queensland.

And as far as boring is concerned; try watching a match involving the Reds (or even worse; an Aussie derby).

By Sander, at March 11, 2008 3:06 pm
I totally agree with sander the relegation factor plays a huge part in the difference between leagues.
And toward the guiness premiership, the more boring games you see the better the exciting ones are when you finally get them.

By Anonymous, at March 17, 2008 11:59 am
What I've found as a rugby fan from the NH is that while NH fans have a healthy respect for SH rugby and the ability of the players; Southern fans don't treat NH rugby with the same respect. I do enjoy rugby in the SH but i don't think it is necessarily better or worse just different.

The weather is better so as kids they are encouraged to attack. The conditions aren't great up here so it does make it hard to run the ball. Yet i think that NH rugby has its positives. It is fun to see a titanic struggle of forwards but even now in the Premiership the side that plays the most rugby wins. It isn't like the old days when sides could get away with just kicking the ball. Now sides look to attack and are encouraged to run with ball. At my school we were encouraged to attack the opposition, sometimes even tap and going with an easy penalty chance. And this at 1stXV level!!!!

If anything Super rugby showed that it is possible to throw the ball about and still win matches. It has played a big part in ensuring that NH fans are seeing more rugby being played by domestic sides. So for that alone cheers lads.

By Anonymous, at March 22, 2008 9:08 pm
It seems to me that the southern hemisphere law changes seem to be working in response to the increased competition being faced from European Rugby these days.

Australia, NZ and SA no longer have the monopoly on world class play, and with lucrative wages we are drawing from their talent pool.

You can't just invent new rules to further your own regime! How about a new rule saying that all penalties have to be taken with the left foot only? Or how about we introduce a scrum at every break down?

We all want exciting, creative Rugby, but anyone who has watched European Rugby will know we have a fantastic balance.

The last thing we want is to turn into Australia, all the pace and skill in the back, no front five power. Where has the Aussie grit gone? It's not all about running 100m in 11 seconds. Remove elements of set piece play, all the penalties and the importance of powerful scrummaging, and you remove huge tactical parts of the game. Basically you have Rugby League, and no one wants that.

By Anonymous, at May 22, 2008 3:01 pm