Bath vs London Irish match report: Dave Attwood entry breaks Exiles' stout resistance

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It took them half the night to find their rhythm, but Bath duly laid waste to London Irish, enhancing their chances of a home Premiership semi-final in the process.

Banking heavily on an all-singing, all-dancing performance from their Australian back-row forward Leroy Houston, who made something of a mockery of the fact this his club are in the market for a new No 8, they scored four tries in the third quarter to reap their full reward.

Bath have taken more than their pound of flesh from London Irish in recent seasons: leaving aside the forwards coaches Toby Booth and Neal Hatley, the West Countrymen had such former Exiles luminaries as Anthony Watson, Jonathan Joseph, Matt Garvey and Max Lahiff in their playing squad here. No one died of shock, therefore, when the visitors arrived in aggressive mood.

They did not, in their heart of hearts, expect it to be payback time, but they were intent on making the title challengers sweat for their victory.

This, they managed, at least for a while. Indeed, they ended the first half a point up at 13-12, thanks to a close-range try from the Irish international prop Tom Court following a wondrous pass out of contact by the blind-side flanker Luke Narraway in a narrow channel down the left.

During his days in and around an England squad in which he was cruelly undervalued, Narraway used to pull such stunts on a weekly basis. It seems he still has a touch of class about him. It might have been worse for Bath. Narraway’s back-row partner, Tom Guest, was seriously aggrieved at being denied a try following a scrum surge close to the sticks. As it was, Chris Noakes kicked eight points in the opening period, while Bath were restricted to four penalties from their own No 10, George Ford.

The introduction of the England lock Dave Attwood at half-time had the desired effect, however: the Exiles did not like the look of the newcomer one little bit and fell off tackles as a consequence. Houston, highly committed as ever, took full advantage by scoring off the blind side of a scrum and then playing a clever off-loading role in helping create a score for Joseph.

Those scores came in the 45th and 50th minutes, and in the twinkling of an eye, the wing Matt Banahan and the rugby league convert Sam Burgess also crossed – the former from some precise midfield passing after another intelligent contribution from Houston; the latter, who looks far more of a back-rower than he did a cente, from a driving maul.

When Houston wrapped things up by delivering a scoring pass to Semesa Rokoduguni deep in the final quarter, it was a job well done. A short-range try just before the final whistle from the London Irish breakaway Blair Cowan was a pure irrelevance.

Bath: A Watson; S Rokoduguni, J Joseph, K Eastmond (O Devoto 59), M Banahan; G Ford, P Stringer (C Cook 61); P James (N Auterac 53), R Webber (R Batty 49), K Palma-Newport (M Lahiff 49), S Hooper (capt, D Attwood h-t), D Day (M Garvey 49), S Burgess, F Louw (C Fearns 61), L Houston.

London Irish: A Fenby; T Ojo (E Sheridan 61), E Griffin, F Mulchrone, A Lewington; C Noakes (S Geraghty 53), D Allinson (T O’Leary 53); T Court (J Hagan 61), D Paice (G Ellis 54), R Palframan (H Aulika 49), G Skivington (capt), J Sinclair (D Leo 61), L Narraway (S Cox 54), B Cowan, T Guest.

Referee: L Pearce (Devon).