No Sam Burgess, no problem. Though the most frustrating thing about this match – and there were a few – was that it was tailor-made for the departed dual code international. Bath ground out a victory with only glimpses of quality, high intensity, plenty of big hits and no little needle. Slammin’ Sam would have had a field day.
As it was, Bath owed plenty to the 20th-minute red card for London Irish’s Brendan McKibbin and a spell just after half-time that yielded tries for Alafoti Fa’osiliva and Kyle Eastmond while a score for Rhys Priestland, on his first start for the club, and a late effort from Nikola Matawalu put the gloss on a welcome victory after a difficult week.
“We picked Sam to be on the bench today but then late on Wednesday Souths started negotiating,” said Mike Ford, Bath’s head coach. “It surprised me how quickly it accelerated. I’m gutted, I’m disappointed because I think Sam could have been a very good rugby union player. He’s gone now so we move on and I’m pleased with the performance today after the disruption during the week.”
Irish had just trimmed the score to 10-7 in Bath’s favour with a penalty try and the visitors’ blindside Matt Garvey was set to join his fellow flanker Fa’osiliva in the sin-bin when the referee Thomas Foley sent off the scrum-half McKibbin for a stamp to Henry Thomas’s head. Foley also chalked off the try and moments later Ollie Devoto scored Bath’s second, leaving Irish staring down the barrel and their task was made harder when the replacement scrum-half Scott Steele, limped off 10 minutes later.
“I thought the game was effectively over when we lost Brendan, then 10 minutes later we lost Steeley and we played most of the game without a half-back,” said Irish’s head coach, Tom Coventry. “We shot ourselves in the foot. We’ll have to look at the discipline. I understand the law, if you put your foot anywhere near someone’s head, you’re usually going to go off the field.”
But while Bath are, by reputation, the most swashbuckling of sides the Premiership has to offer, they rarely showed it here. Perhaps we should have seen it coming with no George Ford, Matawalu or Anthony Watson in the starting XV it was clear that responsibility for getting Bath out of their mini-rut, having lost their previous two matches, lay with the forwards and it was a set-piece from which Priestland scored the first points with a penalty after Irish were pressured into losing the ball.
Shane Geraghty missed a straightforward chance to respond soon after and after another scrum penalty, Bath were 8-0 to the good when Leroy Houston piled over.
Priestland converted via the post but almost immediately Bath lost Fa’osiliva to the sin-bin for a high tackle. Irish kicked to the corner and after Garvey brought down the rolling maul Irish thought they were within three, only for Foley to intervene.
Irish, 17-0 down, came again however, their forward muscle earning another a penalty and after another rolling maul Steele, brought on after McKibbin’s dismissal, sniped his way to the line.
Priestland, enduring a mixed afternoon, then missed a simple penalty in front of the posts before Devoto was sent to the sin-bin for a late tackle on Geraghty shortly before half-time. After the interval, finally a line break, or rather there was a burst down the short side from the Bath scrum-half Chris Cook, who was stopped 10 metres short but had enough support for the visitors to go through the hands before Fa’osiliva went over. Now the procession had started.
A minute later Semesa Rokoduguni burst down the right and while he could not quite reach the line, Eastmond was on his inside shoulder to finish off. Homer converted both scores and Bath were already home and hosed. To their credit, Irish kept coming and Fergus Mulchrone had their second try on 52 minutes, converted by Geraghty but on came George Ford to allay any Bath fears of letting this one slip. Priestland, ignoring an overlap, added try No5 late on before Matawalu took advantage of a slip by his fellow Fijian Aseli Tikoirotuma to score right at the end.
