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Paul shows Swansea the divide

Rugby Union Bath 87 Swansea 15

David Llewellyn
Wednesday 11 September 1996 23:02 BST
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Henry Paul and Jason Robinson were last night unleashed on an unsuspecting rugby union public and won the hearts of a euphoric Bath crowd with a scintillating display in the 13-try annihilation of Swansea in the Anglo- Welsh Cup.

Only three days before the pair had helped Wigan lift rugby league's Premiership title but against luckless Swansea they looked as if they had been playing the union game for years, not hours.

Such is the strength of Bath's squad that they should never be accused of putting out a second-string side. This victory came from a team showing eight changes from that beaten by Leicester at the weekend. Swansea's cause was not helped by the fact that they were fielding just five regular first-team players.

Reports of a sell-out 8,500 crowd looked to have been exaggerated. Spaces gaped out of the banks of temporary stands when the game got underway. Despite all the hype it was neither of Bath's rugby league recruits who drew the first roar of the night - that honour belonged to hooker Graham Dawe.

He put a perfect little grubber kick, which would have done Gareth Edwards proud, over the Swansea line and Adedayo Adebayo won the race to the touchdown for the first of his tries. Adebayo struck again three minutes later, taking advantage of a huge overlap.

Then it was Paul's turn. A dazzling break by the captain, Phil de Glanville, put the New Zealander clear and in true rugby league style Paul managed to spin out of two attempted tackles and carry on over the line.

Both Robinson and Paul proved difficult to stop on contact. Robinson's sprinting prowess was revealed when he almost made it to the Swansea line and only a fine turn of speed and a desperate tackle by Simon Davies prevented the try.

But still the procession continued with Paul racing in from 40 yards to score under the posts. Paul was revealing some wonderful touches; changes of pace and direction, flashes of inspiration which caught Swansea cold and a sureness of touch, his handling was just superb.

The one-way traffic was halted briefly by Davies who caught Bath out in a rare moment of slack policing when the ball was hacked ahead and the Swansea winger beat everyone to the touchdown. Bath quickly hit back, however, when Robinson scorched down the right and set up Callard for a simple try. David Weatherley, on at fly half for the injured Aled Williams, provided some hope for Swansea with a try at the end of the first half.

Martin Haag and the Swansea old boy Richard Webster, another of Bath's League signings, picked up where they had left off in the first half with a try apiece, while de Glanville had the distinction of bringing up the half century with a smart dive into the corner. But the try that brought everyone to their feet was Robinson's first. He began it with an amazing side step before knifing through the defence for the touchdown. Three minutes later he scored his second and Eric Peters ran in Bath's 13th. And all the while Callard was calmly converting everything.

Bath: Tries Adebayo (2), Paul (2), Callard, Haag, Webster (2), de Glanville, Butland, Robinson (2), Peters. Conversions Callard (11).

Swansea: Tries Davies (2), Weatherley.

Bath: J Callard; A Adebayo (J Ewens, 57), Phil de Glanville (A Nicol, 68), H Paul, J Robinson; R Butland, C Harrison; J Mallett, G Dawe (N McCarthy, 79), K Yeates, B Cusack, M Haag, S Ojomoh, R Webster (E Peters, 79), N Thomas

Swansea: A Clement; A Palfrey, M Taylor, S Gibbs, S Davies; A Williams (D Weatherley, 21; M Evans, 40), R Jones; I Buckett, E Evans, K Colclough (S Johnson, 40), R Moriarty (H Bevan, 68), S Moore, D Niblo, R Appleyard, C Charis.

Referee: E Morrison (Bristol).

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