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Tigers v Bath: More memories

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The rivalry between Leicester Tigers and Bath Rugby is now a century old. We looked through the archives and here is the second collection of memories from the players involved previous encounters.

Text originally published in the Leicester Tigers matchday programme, March 17 2007

The Leicester Tigers-versus-Bath rivalry has been one of the features of modern rugby. We asked some Tigers favourites – and Stuart Barnes – to share their memories of fixtures between the two clubs over the last 50 years.

Stuart Barnes (Bath 1985-94)
“We had a very good record against Leicester in my time, but I remember losing to Tigers in the Cup when I was Bath captain. I had a pair of lucky red socks that I had been wearing on matchdays for two years – I threw them in the weir behind the ground on the way home. It wasn’t the best idea because I remember walking home with my shoes on and no socks, and getting my feet all blistered and battered.”

John Allen (Tigers 1960-75)
“My last game for Tigers was against Bath. It was in September 1975, we won 37-7 and I got dropped. That just shows what the selection was like in those days! We used to play them in September and January – and if you were away for the January game you knew the water from the river would have spilled over on to the pitch.”

Bob Beason (Tigers 1960-73)
“After a particularly poor winter performance in a loss at The Rec, the team for the following week was selected after the game because we had a fixture the next Wednesday. We had not done well in the front row and Peter Wheeler was dropped – he believes to this day it was my fault!. This did nothing for his humour, and made him thirsty. We left about 10pm, John Allen had won a bottle of sherry in the raffle, which we confiscated, and a party ensued on the bus. We operated on Garry Adey with a knife and fork because of some error he had made, then the bus failed to climb the steep hill out of Bath in a snowstorm, and we all got out to push it. Finally it broke down in Cirencester, a replacement bus was sent from Leicester, which arrived at 2am, and we got home about 5.30am!”

Angus Collington (Tigers 1974-85)
“We used to use the old Fosse Road to and from Bath and one year we played in gale-force winds then found the road was blocked by a fallen tree on the way back. We were about 100 yards short of a pub so we spent about four hours in there waiting for a farmer to chop this tree and clear the road.
“We always seemed to go down to The Rec when the fun fair was on at Moreton-in-the-Marsh so we’d stop there on the way back and have a few beers. Once, a group of lads went off to the fun-fair, including Paul Ringer who won a goldfish. Back in the pub, he dropped in someone’s beer!”

Darren Garforth (Tigers 1991-2003)
“Most of my fondest memories of games at Bath were in the King William pub afterwards. We’d leave the clubhouse and get in there for the rest of the night.
“Another favourite recollection about Bath involved Graham Dawe. He had broken a toe and wasn’t going to play, but we found out he was playing and I told Cocker to stamp on his foot at the first scrum. He did it, Graham butted me, we got a penalty and went 3-0 up in the first minute!
“It was always a real battle, real nine-man rugby usually. They were the pack you measured yourself against – if you did all right against them you were a half-decent team.”

Will Greenwood (Tigers 1996-2000) (from his autobiography)
“I made my league debut for Leicester in a 28-25 win over Bath which was sealed with a last-minute penalty try. Bath were very much the team to beat and victory over them was always followed by some long, hard celebrations in the clubhouse.
“Leon Lloyd used to give the impression that there was a very angry man somewhere inside him. Jon Callard at Bath was similar– softly spoken off the pitch but spitting fury on it – and whenever Leicester and Bath clashed the two of them used to spend most of the match hurling insults at each other.”

Jamie Hamilton (Tigers 1990-2002)
“We travelled down on matchday and Tony Underwood got stuck in traffic so I was given his jersey just before kick-off and told to play on the wing. Tony had arrived by half-time but Deano said we should keep the same team and I managed to get the try that drew the game.”