Watson and 'Roko' help Bath tune-up London Irish
Bath scored five first-half tries en route to a comprehensive 38-10 victory over London Irish at the Madejski Stadium.
That match was good as over by the interval as the visitors established a 31-3 lead thanks to scores from Beno Obano, Will Chudley, Anthony Watson, Semesa Rokoduguni and a penalty try.
Tom Homer also went over early in the second period for the west country side, with Irish’s sole try coming from Adam Coleman once Bath had finished their scoring.
Bath’s third win of the season lifts them up to seventh in the Gallagher Premiership, leap-frogging above Irish who drop to ninth.
Obano got his side up and running with their opening try inside four minutes, the prop getting the final touch after a number of pick-and-goes a couple of metres out.
Rhys Priestland added the first of three successful conversions and Watson then showed his all-round footballing skills to score Bath’s second try minutes later.
A loose ball was smartly hacked upfield by the England winger, allowing him to slide over from a yard out and extend the visitors’ lead to 12 points.
Irish’s cause was not helped by a cast crippled by injury at an alarming rate. Paddy Jackson lasted just 12 minutes before succumbing to a hamstring problem, and Tom Fowlie failed his head injury assessment after coming on as a replacement.
A solitary penalty from the unusually quiet Stephen Myler was all Irish had to show for their first-half efforts, which were no match for a Bath back division which had it all their own way.
Rokoduguni added a third try with just over a quarter of the game gone, dotting down in the corner after skipper Priestland moved the ball wide from a mass of bodies under the posts, and the bonus-point try was not far behind.
A speculative punt into the Irish 22 by Rokoduguni was met by a dithering James Stokes – the full-back enduring a difficult debut following his move from Championship outfit Coventry in the week – and Homer pounced on the ball at the 28-year-old’s feet.
With Jamie Roberts then waiting to simply drop over the line, Albert Tuisue was left with little choice but to pick off Chudley’s short pass, despite coming in from a clear off-side position.
Referee Karl Dickson, in collaboration with TMO Sean Davey, did not have to consult long to come to their decision, with the Fiji number eight given 10 minutes in the sin-bin and Bath awarded a try.
Chudley then scored the pick of Bath’s tries as Irish threatened to completely unravel, with Jonathan Joseph instigating a wonderful, flowing move.
The England and Lions centre – a former London Irish player – was also at its conclusion, offloading out of the tackle to allow his scrum-half to scamper over unopposed for a fifth Bath try inside the opening half-hour.
The climax to a poor afternoon for Myler was capped soon after the re-start when an attempted cross-field kick was sliced.
It could not have bounced kinder for Homer, who went the full distance from just inside his own 22 to increase the visiting side’s lead further still.
Coleman’s effort was as much as Bath’s festive spirit was willing to yield and even after the away side lost Christian Judge to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle, they kept Irish at arm’s length.
Comments on RugbyPass
Kok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to comments