Sometimes, though, it comes down to the sort of game where hard grunt is the key - half the season is played in rain and heavy mud and Bath maybe just lack a little bit of dog.
Each side had a man dismissed in that last encounter, while Diouf, Brown and Celtic manager Neil Lennon engaged in a bit of tit-for-tat mud-slinging in the days that followed.
Functionality was a priority: simple throw rugs are the only floor treatments, and there's the beach equivalent of a mud room, where sandy feet can be cleaned (with Gucci towels a bit of housekeeping humor).