Bath moves clear of the danger zone
PREMIERSHIP REPORT: Bath powered to a 38-10 victory away to London Irish as they recorded their first away win of the season.
The bonus-point win saw them move past the Exiles and ever-so-slightly away from the relegation zone.
Beno Obano and Anthony Watson had them two tries to the good inside 10 minutes, and by the half-hour, they had the bonus point in the bag thanks to a penalty try with London Irish having lost Albert Tuisue to the sin-bin.
Semesa Rokoduguni had racked up his 50th Premiership try in between, while Will Chudley finished off an offloading masterclass for number five and a 31-3 half-time lead.
The second half was a tighter affair, with one try apiece, Tom Homer from long-range for Bath, and Adam Coleman on his first Premiership start for Irish.
* Did you miss any of the action? To recap all the drama, CLICK HERE!
London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney said: “I congratulate Bath today because they were better, but there are some easy, quick fixes in there from our side. We need to be able to harness things we can influence, and we just didn’t do enough of that out there.
“We have ground to make up now, but because of the way the season has been truncated so far, it only feels like the league is beginning now.”
Bath Rugby director of rugby Stuart Hooper said: “It was nice to see the boys playing with enthusiasm and a smile, and scoring tries is what it’s all about so yes, I’m delighted for them.
“There have been lots of discussions externally and internally, but the lads have been absolutely spot on. There’s a huge amount of belief among this group about what we’re doing and where we are going.
The scorers
For London Irish:
Try: Coleman
Con: Myler
Pen: Myler
For Bath:
Tries: Obano, Watson, Rokoduguni, Chudley, Homer, Penalty try
Cons: Priestland 3, penalty try does not require a conversion
Yellow cards: Albert Tuisue (London Irish, 26), Chris Judge (Bath, 61)
Teams:
London Irish: 15 Paddy Jackson, 14 Curtis Rona, 13 Tom Stephenson, 12 Terrence Hepetema, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Ben Meehan, 8 Albert Tuisue, 7 Blair Cowan (captain), 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Ruan Botha, 3 Olle Hoskins, 2 Saia Fainga’a, 1 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi.
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Franco van der Merwe, 20 Matt Rogerson, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Tom Fowlie, 23 James Stokes.
Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Anthony Watson, 10 Rhys Priestland (captain), 9 Will Chudley, 8 Josh Bayliss, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Tom Ellis, 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano.
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Lewis Boyce, 18 Christian Judge, 19 Matt Garvey, 20 Rhys Davies, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Aled Brew.
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Simon Harding & Jonathan Healy
TMO: Sean Davey
Report by @premrugby
