Barkley departs in style
Olly Barkley capped off his final match for Bath with a 31-10 win as Gary Gold's side handed Sale Sharks a fifth straight Premiership defeat.
The 30-year-old, starting at flyhalf, will depart for Racing Metro as a medical joker, but was on good kicking form as he racked up 16 points against the Sharks.
Second-half tries from David Wilson, Stuart Hooper, as well as a penalty try, were enough for Bath to get back to winning ways after back-to-back defeats to Northampton Saints and London Irish.
Sale, for whom Nick Macleod started at flyhalf ahead of Danny Cipriani, managed a single penalty, in addition to Johnny Leota's try, as they still search for a first win of the campaign.
It was the visitors who had the first chance of three points from just inside the Bath half but Macleod missed the shot at goal.
Bath hit back with a penalty from Barkley and the departing flyhalf added another three-pointer two minutes later to stretch the home side's lead to 6-0.
It took the Sharks until the 15th minute to get on the board when Macleod made no mistake from 22 metres out.
However, in an edgy first half it was the home side who were just on top and Barkley added another three points just before the half-hour to make it 9-3.
And he was at it again almost immediately as Sale's discipline let them down to make it 12-3.
Things were going badly for Sale and it got even worse when Tom Brady was sent to the sin bin for taking out Ben Skirving in the air from the restart.
However, they should have hit back when Bath were penalised for hands in the ruck only for Macleod to miss a kickable opportunity as Bath went in nine points to the good.
Ten minutes into the second half, Wilson, who was this week promoted to the England senior squad, made a bullocking run before being hauled just short of the line.
However, after a couple more phases it was the England prop who juggled the ball before crashing over for the game's first try. Barkley added the conversion to make it 19-3 to the home side.
The Sharks were in danger of losing contact but after some great work by the forwards, Leota rumbled his way under the posts – Macleod's conversion reducing the arrears back to nine.
Barkley then missed his first penalty of the afternoon when Sale were penalised at a scrum.
Sale, with Cipriani on at flyhalf, appeared to have woken up and Brady was stopped just short of the line.
However, Bath held firm and it was the hosts who were next on the attack from a fantastic turnover and from the ensuing counter-attack they earned a penalty.
The home side chose to kick for the corner and a perfectly-worked line-out drive sent Hooper flying over the line to put the result beyond doubt – Barkley missed the conversion as Bath led 24-10.
Anthony Perenise almost added another for the home side but was stopped just short of the line.
There was still time for Andy Powell to be sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle on Dominic Day.
And with the final play of the match, Bath earned a penalty try from a scrum and Barkley signed off his career at the Rec in style with the conversion from in front of the posts.
The scorers:
For Bath:
Tries: Wilson, Hooper, Penalty try
Con: Barkley 2
Pen: Barkley 4
For Sale:
Try: Leota
Con: Macleod
Pen: Macleod
Teams:
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Kyle Eastmond, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Stephen Donald, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Olly Barkley, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Ben Skirving, 6 Carl Fearns, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Stuart Hooper (captain), 3 David Wilson, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Dominic Day, 20 Will Skuse, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Sam Vesty, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Sale: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Cillian Willis, 8 Andy Powell, 7 David Seymour (captain), 6 James Doyle, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Fraser McKenzie, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Eifion Lewis-Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Joe Ward, 17 Vadim Cobilas, 18 Aston Croall, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Will Addison.
Referee: David Rose
Assistant Referees: Matthew Carly, Gareth Copsey.
Leicester Tigers 30-8 Exeter Chiefs
A hat-trick from summer signing Adam Thompstone resoundingly ended Leicester Tigers' spell of two Premiership games without a try against Exeter Chiefs and helped his new side to a 30-8 victory.
Leicester topped the try-scoring charts last season and Thompstone was brought to Welford Road to soften the blow of losing their top strike-runner Alesana Tuilagi to Shining Arcs in Japan.
Coming into the game the Tigers hadn't scored a try in 166 minutes of action but Thompstone was in no mood to let that run continue and got his club account underway after six minutes.
As well as Thompstone's two second-half tries, Toby Flood kicked three penalties and three conversions while Exeter only troubled the scorers with an Ignacio Mieres penalty and a try at the death from replacement Ben White.
Thompstone, the former London Irish wing, had fellow new arrival Vereniki Goneva to thank for his first try after the big Fijian burst through the heart of the Chiefs defence from an inside pass from Flood.
From the ensuing ruck when the ball came back Flood spread the play to the right and Thomas Waldrom passed on to Thompstone to run in.
Flood hit a touchline conversion for a 7-3 lead and then took the Tigers into double figures when the Chiefs were penalised for playing the ball on the floor.
Mieres then missed an immediate opportunity to reply from the tee but the hard running of Sireli Naqelevuki and Tom Johnson gave the visitors their first clear sighting of Leicester's try-line.
Irish international Ian Whitten dummied his way through the Tigers' defence but was hauled down agonisingly short by Matt Smith.
Mieres should have pegged the Tigers back when Goneva went into a ruck with inadequate support but the Argentine hit the left-hand post from a central position.
Flood was having no such kicking problems and calmly converted a penalty awarded when fullback Niall Morris was floored by Chiefs hooker Chris Whitehead following an up-and-under.
The Tigers were hungry for something more before half-time, the Chiefs desperate to resist, but on 39 minutes they gave away a penalty for hands in the ruck and Flood cleanly struck his fourth goal kick for a 16-3 lead.
Exeter shot themselves in the foot at the beginning of the second half when Mieres dropped a pass from his scrumhalf Haydn Thomas right on his own try-line.
Waldrom then tackled the flyhalf as he tried to recover the ball and when Jason Shoemark also failed to clean up, Flood hacked the ball into the arms of Smith who passed it down the line for Thompstone to jog in his second and Flood converted.
The Chiefs were determined to make amends, no-one more than Mieres, and when the Tigers worked another opportunity for Logovi'i Mulipola, the flyhalf chased him down and bundled the 19-stone prop just out of play.
But it was not long before Thompstone made up for it when collecting Smith's kick through and ran in under the posts unopposed.
Flood converted but a fourth try, and a bonus point, proved elusive for the Tigers and the Chiefs sneaked in at the end from half a yard out when White went over for a consolation score.
The scorers:
For Leicester:
Tries: Thompstone 3
Cons: Flood 3
Pens: Flood 3
For Exeter:
Tries: White
Pen: Mieres
Teams:
Leicester: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Niall Morris, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Dan Bowden, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Jordan Crane (captain), 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Dan Cole, 2 George Chuter, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Brett Deacon, 21 Patrick Phibbs, 22 George Ford, 23 Adam Thompstone.
Exeter: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Ian Whitten, 13 Sireli Naqelevuki, 12 Jason Shoemark, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 Richard Baxter, 7 James Scaysbrook, 6 Tom Johnson, 5 James Hanks, 4 Tom Hayes (captain), 3 Carl Rimmer, 2 Chris Whitehead, 1 Brett Sturgess.
Replacements: 16 Simon Alcott, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Chris Budgen, 19 Aly Muldowney, 20 Ben White, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Phil Dollman.
Referee: Tim Wigglesworth
Assistant Referees: Andrew Watson, Paul Burton
TMO: Graham Hughes
