Bath are not yet a club in crisis, but another couple of bad weeks will see them pretty close to the edge. Unable to win in any competition that matters and finding increasingly painful ways to lose, their problems are piling up. Their most immediate concerns are the red card which Matt Banahan received here and Sunday's awkward Heineken Cup tie against Edinburgh at the Recreation Ground.
Steve Meehan, the head coach, and the club's legal team will be gathering as much television footage as possible after the referee, David Rose, showed Banahan a red card 13 minutes from time, after apparently being told by his touch judge that the England wing had stamped on the head of Northampton's replacement fly-half, Stephen Myler.
The incident looked ugly but Meehan said no contact was made with Myler's head. "I don't think it's a red card at all," he said, "and we will see what happens to [Banahan] from a judicial point of view."
He also hinted that Bath might ask Tony Spreadbury, the Rugby Football Union's director of referees, who was in the stands here, to give evidence in an attempt to reduce any punishment. The recommended "high tariff" punishment for such an offence is upwards of nine weeks. Bath can ill afford to lose Banahan for any length of time. Whether the wing is a genuine England Test player is another matter, but at club level he is one of Bath's sharpest weapons, as he showed on Saturday, making the break which ended in a Shontayne Hape try and a lead which Bath held until 44 seconds from time. Then Chris Ashton went over for his second try, running into space left vacant by Banahan's absence.
As if to confirm his well-being, Myler drilled the conversion through the wind and rain to give Northampton a fifth win on the bounce and leave Bath only three points off the foot of the table.
"It's unfortunate to battle like that and come away with only one point when you deserve four," said Meehan, who in the league this season has overseen one win, two draws and three defeats by two points or less. None of those defeats was more bitter than this. Meehan had banked on kick-starting Bath's season here. After losing 16-0 at home to London Irish the previous weekend, he had arranged a clear-the-air meeting with his players.
He had admitted to sending mixed messages about the way Bath wanted to play at the start of the season and underestimating the damage caused by four players leaving the club during the summer, after drugs-related issues. He now has to prepare for the Heineken Cup, in which, after two rounds, Bath are bottom of their pool. They could be out by Sunday evening and they do not appear to have the reserves in decision-making positions necessary to turn around their campaign. The fly-half Butch James, who was such a big influence last year, is not expected to reappear for another month and when they were asked about the leg that Olly Barkley damaged in pre-season, club officials confessed to being "mystified".
The 1998 European champions have just one losing bonus point and now must face an Edinburgh side who are second in the Magners League after ending the Scarlets' winning home run in Llanelli on Friday.
The Scottish team have only once got to the knockout rounds in Europe, but they are confident and have a history of taking important scalps.
"We bounced back from the previous week … and there was a hell of a lot of passion out there," said Meehan. "We'll be OK if we play like that every week, with courage, purpose, and desire."
Northampton Foden; Ashton, Clarke, Downey, Ansbro; Geraghty (Myler, 60), Dickson; Tonga'uiha, Hartley (capt), Murray (Bonorino, 60), Lawes (Day, 64), Kruger, Dowson (Gray, 60), Best, Wilson.
Tries Ashton 2 Con Myler Pen Geraghty.
Bath Abendanon; Stephenson, Carraro, Hape, Banahan; Little, Claassens (capt); Flatman, Mears, Wilson (Bell, 61), Grewcock (Short, 43), Hooper, Beattie, Salvi, Watson.
Try Hape Con Little Pens Little 2.
Sent off Banahan, 67.
Referee D Rose (Warwickshire). Attendance 13,101.
