The end of the season will be welcomed by many players, weary after 10 months of training and playing, but Mike Brown will not be among them. It has been a breakthrough year for the full-back at the relatively advanced age of 28 and he was again the difference between victory and defeat for Harlequins, who reached the Premiership play-offs for the third consecutive season by the narrowest of margins.
Brown not only scored his side's try but he saved three as Quins' last line of defence. Bath needed to avoid defeat to hold on to the place in the top four that they had occupied for most of the season, but their ability to create opportunities was not complemented by an appreciation of how to get past Brown. Such is the confidence he now exudes that when he made a mistake at the end of the first-half, losing control of the ball having won a turnover, it merited watching again on the big screen just to check it was not a case of mistaken identity.
He had by then helped Harlequins get on top of opponents they needed to beat to earn a play-off semi-final at Saracens. His first act was to catch a high ball delivered by George Ford into a swirling wind, while Bath's chasers lost their bearings and such is his stature now that when Ford, a threat with the ball in hand all afternoon, stepped out of two challenges on his own 22 and confronted the full-back as the last line of defence on halfway, he seemed to shrivel even though he held a clear advantage with Anthony Watson free on his outside and two players available to the left.
Ford, normally so quick and astute at assessing his options, decided profit was to be gained by kicking towards the home 22, probably correctly given the rash of handling errors in a frenzied and frantic opening, but it was as if Brown not only blocked his view but scrambled his thoughts. He chipped the ball straight at the full-back who picked it up to turn defence into attack.
When Ford freed Watson three minutes from the interval, the wing appeared destined to touch the ball down under the posts until Brown hauled him down. Even better was to come from him four minutes after the interval, after another attack instigated by Ford. Nick Abendanon stepped his way into Quins' 22 and appeared to have wrong-footed Brown 10 metres from the line, swaying away from the defender's challenge and getting past him.
Suddenly he fell to the ground, pounced on by Danny Care and Chris Robshaw, two other players who take Quins up a few levels; Brown had managed to tap his opposite number's right ankle, and while Robshaw conceded a penalty at the ruck on his own line – which Ford turned into three points – it saved four, and that ultimately proved the difference between fourth and an end to the season.
The kick brought Bath to 10-10 with the wind behind then, but after they conceded the ball at the restart, not for the first or last time, Matt Banahan was sent to the sin-bin for entering a ruck from the side and kicking the ball out, having missed a tackle on David Ward. Nick Evans kicked two penalties in the wing's absence and Quins played more effectively against the wind than they had in the first-half, holding on to the ball and taking play through phases.
Bath, though more mercurial, made more unforced errors and for all their enterprise – Ford's try on 22 minutes was a devastating riposte to those who maintain that traditional outside-half play is locked in the amateur era – they lacked the collective will and wisdom of their hosts who, having spent most of the season out of the top four, made their move when it mattered.
Their play-off aspirations were decried six weeks ago, after they lost heavily to Saracens at Wembley when their director of rugby, Conor O'Shea, rested Brown, Care and Robshaw. His judgement was questioned at the time, but five successive victories vindicated his decision. Quins will be the favourites to lose against Sarries on Saturday, but if they lack the overcall class they had in 2012 when they won the Premiership they are gripped by a fierce will to win and, when Bath opened their defence, the space was quickly shut again.
The opening exchanges betrayed the nerves of both sides. Quins needed to win and not concede more than one bonus point to overtake Bath, and they were never behind in the game. They took the lead after 15 minutes when they retained possession after Micky Young's failure to deal with a kick in his 22. The scrum-half was forced to concede a lineout, which was won by Gorge Robson. Seven phases later, Care's long pass found Brown on the left and the full-back stepped out of Watson's challenge.
Bath's response was almost instant. Nothing appeared to be on when Ford made a break on the Quins' 10-metre line, but after one step he found himself in space and, not for the first time this season, surprised defenders with his acceleration. Not even Brown could stop him. There are questions over his defence, which will probably mean Stephen Myler play in the first Test against New Zealand next month, depending on who is in the Premiership final, but no one in his position offers as much of an attacking threat.
Evans's penalty gave Quins a three-point lead at the break. Nick Easter thought he had scored a try but it was ruled out because Care's pass was deemed forward. Neither line was crossed in the second period, Evans and Ford kicking three penalties. Both missed drop-goal attempts, the latter from long range in the last play of the match. The defeat was hard on him, and Bath, but Quins will ask Saracens the more searching questions.
"They will not want to face us a week before the Heineken Cup final because we will get stuck in," said O'Shea. "They are the form team in England who are playing superbly, but anything can happen on a one-off occasion.
"We were not at our best, but there is incredible belief in this side. Mental strength counts for a lot in this game."
