Rugby Union: Perry makes Bath's point

Bath 33

London Irish 0

You cannot keep a good man or a good side down. Reports of Bath's demise after an uncomfortable few weeks have been premature, as this victory over London Irish showed. It may have taken them a while to break free of the courageous Irish, but the raw east wind made life difficult, numbing hands and plucking the ball hither and thither.

The strength in depth of the West Country club's squad was severely tested with half a dozen preferred players out through injury. But the stand- ins were fine, in particular the centre Matt Perry, who scored the try of the game. And England's Jeremy Guscott was at his imperious best with a superbly taken hat-trick of tries late on.

All the same, these are disturbing times at Bath. On the pitch opponents seem to be getting their measure; off the field, their coach Brian Ashton is said to be taking a second week's paid leave of absence, so the coaching duties have been taken up by the club's former England flanker Andy Robinson and full-back Jon Callard. Add to that the fact that John Hall, the club's director of rugby, has been remanded on police bail until 17 January in connection with an alleged incident in a bar in the city, and you have a recipe for unrest and upset.

Visiting sides to the Recreation ground could have been forgiven for thinking that with all this and a long injury list, Bath were ripe for the taking. But the 10-times Pilkington Cup winners have come to regard the trophy as their personal property and their grip on it is tight. Yesterday was no exception.

An exemplary display of the driving maul in the first half showed the Exiles who was the boss and at times only desperate defending kept them at bay. Bath still broke through for two tries though, with the England wing Jon Sleightholme rounding off a tap penalty move in the 17th minute for the first.

Then, when the Irish fly-half Sean Burns failed to find touch from a 22nd-minute penalty Bath produced the moment of the match. The ball flowed through frozen, but safe, hands across to the left before swinging back right. Jason Robinson darted through the middle then miraculously got a pass out to Callard and finally the 21-year-old Perry, a former Millfield schoolboy, playing instead of the injured Phil de Glanville, took a scoring pass from Martin Haag for a stunning try.

The Irish were no pushovers, though, and looked dangerous on the counter. They opened the second half with a concerted effort from the pack down the left to keep the cup holders pinned in their half for 15 minutes - 12 of them inside the 22.

They were eventually rewarded with a penalty when Bath's scrum-half Ian Sanders was shown the yellow card for hitting his opposite number, the spiky Peter Richards. Unfortunately for the Irish, Conor O'Shea missed the kick and Bath surged back upfield.

Guscott showed he has lost none of his speed, strength or hunger for tries, storming through twice in as many minutes for scores under the posts to give Callard some simple conversions and his side a more convincing margin. His third came courtesy of Rich Butland's interception, which left Guscott to cruise the remaining 50 yards for a simple touchdown.

Bath: J Callard (capt); J Robinson, M Perry, J Guscott, J Sleightholme; R Butland, I Sanders; D Hilton (Mallett 79), G French, V Ubogu, M Haag, N Redman, N Thomas, S Ojomoh, D Lyle.

London Irish: C O'Shea; N Woods, R Henderson,P Flood, J Bishop; S Burns, P Richards; L Mooney, R Kellam, G Halpin (capt), M O'Kelly, J Davidson, K O'Connell, B Walsh, K Dawson.

Referee: E Morrison (Bristol)