By Glen Leat
April 24 2002

Bath gave their all against a stronger London Irish side, without any thought of saving themselves for the crucial relegation clash with Leeds on Saturday, but still came up short as they lost 31-15 mainly thanks to the kicking skills of Barry Everitt, playing his fiftieth match for the Irish.

There was certainly enough passion within the Bath team to warm the cockles of any coach but unfortunately they could not turn this desire to win into a victory against a strong Irish pack and well drilled defence. With Barry Everitt making Bath pay for every error by kicking eight penalties out of nine and Michael Horack running in for the only try of the game, Bath needed a lot more penetration than has been available all of this season and unsurprisingly they came up short.

With Iain Balshaw switching to fly half, both out of necessity and a bit of desperation as the Bath coaching staff tried to make things happen in their team, and Mark Gabey replacing Steve Borthwick in the second row, Bath kept the Irish down to six points a-piece up to the half hour but with Horacks' try and (unsurprisingly) Everitts' conversion suddenly the Guinness drinkers moved to a 13-6 lead. However Olly Barkley was determined not to be out done by his opposing kicker and slotted home a couple of long and very difficult penalties whilst Iain Balshaw played out a lovely little cameo with a couple of audacious drop goals - enough to bring a smile to the faces of the blue, black and white fans on an otherwise disappointing evening.

A half time score of 13-12 to the home side was somewhat flattering to the visitors but it meant they were still in the game and, perhaps more importantly, within touching distance of a very important losing bonus point. But that extra point was to once again elude Bath as London Irish pulled away to a score of 31-15 as Everitt finished Bath off with his boot; he literally gave the West Countrymen a damn good kicking!

It was good to see Gareth Cooper come back on to the scene after 50 minutes, replacing the worryingly pedestrian Dalzell, but the little Welsh wizard could not be expected to make a difference in such circumstances; still at least he didn't go off injured as he did the last time he returned from a spell out of the game.

We have four games left, beating Leeds is essential because the other games are damned hard!

So how did you predict the score for this match in our poll?

Will Bath beat London Irish? Yes - without doubt 8.6% Yes 13.6% No 66.7% Not Sure 11.1%

Click on to the London Irish Rivals.Net site for their perspective on things.

Have a look at the latest league table.

So what did you think of the Bath players in this game? Give a rating and this will contribute to a cumulative score throughout the season.

Bath Player Ratings` Click below to have your vote Vote Now

And what about the performance of the referee? Vote Now to leave your opinion.

Bath scorers
Tries:
Cons:
Pens: Barkley 3
Drop Goal: Balshaw 2

Bath
Rob Thirlby, Simon Danielli, Mike Tindall, Olly Barkley, Tom Voyce, Iain Balshaw, Kevin Dalzell, Simon Emms, Andy Long, John Mallett, Mark Gabey, Danny Grewcock, Gavin Thomas, James Scaysebrooke, Dan Lyle

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