Seasonal generosity is all very well but, short of serving mince pies and sherry during breaks in play, London Irish could not have been more accommodating hosts in the last Premiership match before Christmas.
Bath could barely believe their luck, gorging on five tries in the first half hour alone to leapfrog into seventh place thanks to their most comprehensive win of the season.
Given the hard times Bath have been experiencing lately this was the end-of-year tonic their management were hoping for, although they will not bump into many opponents as keen to simplify life for them as Irish were. The Exiles have just started promoting season tickets before their move back to west London next season but this was a less than irresistible sales pitch.
There were some mitigating factors, with the All Black wing Waisake Naholo back in New Zealand for the birth of his first child and injury removing Paddy Jackson from the fray prematurely, but Wallaby lock Adam Coleman’s league debut was far from auspicious and his director of rugby, Declan Kidney, did not look a man about to enjoy a relaxing festive break.
“Our first-half performance wasn’t us and we need to see why that was the case,” said the former Ireland coach, whose side go to Worcester on Saturday. “Bath played well but there’s a lot for us to take on board.”
There was an element of deja vu involved, given this was Bath’s 10th successive Premiership win in this fixture, a run of success that dates back to September 2012. It will hardly ease Irish’s disappointment that five former Exiles players were on the visiting teamsheet, including the full-back Tom Homer, the deserved man of the match, showing consistent pace and enterprise as his side registered six tries, as many as they had managed in their previous five league matches put together.
Having lost their last five games in all competitions, Bath would have been happy enough had their first try, scored by the powerful Beno Obano from close range, been their only score of the opening quarter.
As it transpired, from Irish’s perspective, it was just the opening reel of an unfolding Christmas nightmare with the visitors collecting another gift with the game less than nine minutes old. Stephen Myler’s attempted pass ended up loose on the slippery deck and Anthony Watson, back fit ahead of schedule from a knee problem to face his old side, completed a 70-metre kick and chase score at the other end.
To add injury to this double insult, Irish also lost Jackson after he pulled his right hamstring trying vainly to keep pace with the flying Watson. Such moments tend to indicate a match when nothing is destined to go right and it was no surprise when an aimless kick by Myler was run back with interest by Homer and, despite the suggestion of a forward pass, ended with Semesa Rokoduguni going over.
Could it get much worse for Irish? Of course it could. A desperate attempted interception from an offside position close to his own line cost a penalty try and a yellow card for No 8 Albert Tuisue to bring up the visiting bonus point with almost indecent haste and Bath clearly sensed an opportunity to cut loose. A flowing move complete with some delightful offloading, not least from Rokoduguni and Jonathan Joseph in the Irish 22, stretched the plodding cover again and the scrum-half Will Chudley was in the right place to complete his side’s fifth touchdown. Compared with the side who have huffed and puffed through the campaign to date, it was almost like watching a different sport.
With their scrum also starting to go backwards, the second half brought only relative relief for the dispirited Irish. A looping pass from Myler was picked off by the alert Homer, who raced 70 metres to score at the other end, and even the home crowd saw the black humour when Nick Phipps succeeded only in hitting the newly signed James Stokes in the face with an attempted long pass.
By the time Coleman cut through Bath’s mustard-coloured defensive line for Irish’s try after 58 minutes the game was long since up. Having missed touch one last time near the end, a chastened Myler squatted down for a while after the final whistle with both hands clasped to his head. Everyone connected with this horrible performance will have understood precisely how he felt.
