Bath Rugby restart with bonus-point win over London Irish

Rugby restarted at the Rec with the sounds of the game eerily echoed around the empty stadium as Bath Rugby seized a 34-17 victory over London Irish in Round 14 of the Gallagher Premiership.

Bath Rugby now sit fourth in the table for 24 hours with Northampton Saints and Wasps still set to battle it out this weekend meaning the side expect to settle in fifth place at the close.

The Blue, Black and White secured five of the seven tries, with a hat-trick from the hookers using their signature catch and drive, complemented with a further two skilful scores from the Backs. London Irish scored two tries at the latter end of each half with Curtis Rona and Matt Cornish delivering the goods.

The first-half saw three impressive scores delivered by Bath Rugby and one from the Exiles. Ben Spencer executed an impressive interception resulting in a try just four minutes into his debut and Hooker Tom Dunn used his strong carry to drive over the whitewash twice on the 16th and 22nd minutes to extend Bath’s lead to 17-0 with a conversion from Rhys Priestland.

Irish worked hard to get on the board and their efforts paid off just minutes before the first half came to a close. The visitors got past the Bath defence and dotted over in front of the sticks, adding the extras bringing the first 40 to a close with a 17-7 score line.

The second-half saw Bath secure another 17 points from Irish with scores from Jonathan Joseph, who scored a world-class try in the corner, which was followed up by a hard hitting driving maul with Jack Walker dotting down. Rhys Priestland added a penalty to keep the scoreboard ticking over. The Exiles added their final try in the 77th minute through Matt Cornish.

KEY MOMENT 

Jonathan Joseph's try in the 61st minute of the game proved to be a vital moment of the game. Not only sealing a bonus-point, but a moment that saw Spencer and Ewels combine to unleash the centre with a world-class finish in the corner. 

REACTION

Tom Dunn reacts to the bonus-point win over London Irish after the hooker scored a brace to help the Blue, Black and White on their way. 

SCORERS