And Olly Barkley kicked a winning goal, then limped off, then limped back on again.It was undoubtedly a heroic performance by the home side. Not only Danny Grewcock but Steve Borthwick as well showed that they deserved the favourable attention of Andy Robinson, the England head coach, who was present on the occasion, wearing his customary puzzled expression. I cannot, by the way, agree with Barnes that Simpson-Daniel's relatively modest 5ft 9in somehow made the tackle excusable. Shortish players have a hard enough time as it is, without being made to take the additional risk of having their heads knocked off.Higgins' sins meant that Bath, quite properly, had to play the second half with only 14 men, and for much of the period they were down to 13 Even so, their front five outplayed Gloucester. At half-time this view was echoed by the studio pundits, Michael Lynagh and Dewi Morris.In the second half, admittedly, things changed. Andrew Higgins, the Bath centre, had been sent off for accumulating two yellow cards, the first for nearly decapitating James Simpson-Daniel and the second for laying Mike Tindall low with a leg that would have done credit to Nobby Stiles. Neither side, they agreed, knew what to do with the ball when they had it, Gloucester and their outside-half Ludovic Mercier being particular offenders in this regard.

But even people who are interested in rugby wouldn't find it interesting." I hoped that made the matter clearer. At any rate it was the attitude adopted also by those accomplished commentators Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes. So it was that on Saturday, about a quarter of the way through the first half of Bath v Gloucester on Sky Television, I was interrupted by my grown-up daughter. "Is that interesting, Daddy?" she asked, with genuine curiosity "No, my dear," I replied "It is not in the least bit interesting It's interesting to me, because I write about rugby. It is a good rule, which I try to observe, for columnists never to mention their families or their pets But sometimes even the best rules can be bent a little. The England back row Joe Worsley is expected to miss the autumn internationals after injuring medial ligaments in his knee against Sale on Friday The Wasps flanker is expected to be out for up to six weeks.

* The Bath players Andrew Higgins and David Barnes were banned for a fortnight last night. They will miss their club's opening Heineken Cup games against Leinster and Bourgoin. Higgins was sent off during Bath's 18-16 Guinness Premiership win over Gloucester on Saturday after receiving two yellow cards. Barnes struck an opponent when Bath beat the Ospreys eight days ago Both players pleaded guilty.. There are nine stadiums, with capacities ranging from a modest 19,694 at the Sendai Stadium, to the impressive 72,327-capacity Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, where the final would be staged. New Zealand can offer four substantial arenas, with Eden Park in Auckland having the greatest capacity - 45,000 - and Carisbrooke, in Dunedin, the lowest, at 34,000. The Japanese point to the success of the 2002 football World Cup - when they were joint hosts with South Korea - and can also draw on the experience of staging summer and winter Olympics.