Avoiding fresh indignity was Bath's main priority yesterday and, in the context of last weekend's humiliation at Gloucester, a last-gasp defeat to Wasps almost counted as a triumph. Had Olly Barkley converted Andy Long's try in the fifth minute of injury-time, the home side would have scraped a draw and, for once in a dismal season, would have deserved their reward.
In the wake of the Rotherham affair, though, Barkley's miss ranked as no more than a minor inconvenience and not the relegation-endorsing howler it could - or perhaps should - have been. At least finishing 11th means no one can say Bath stayed up only by default, and plans are already afoot to ensure they avoid similar travails next year.
According to Bath's team director Michael Foley, the club will be announcing the appointment of a director of rugby this week, with the veteran Australian coaching guru Alex Evans, the former Wallaby coach Rod Macqueen and the ousted Italy coach Brad Johnstone all being touted. As for the playing staff, stand by for a Gallic influx with French internationals Franck Tournaire, Sylvain Marconnet, Stéphane Glas and, last but not least, Olivier Magne all linked with a move to the west country.
"The balance of the side is not correct and we need to address that," said Foley, stopping only just short of confirming the suspicion that several of his current players have played their last games for Bath.
All rebuilding projects have to start somewhere and Foley, while conceding the challenge ahead is "a fairly big one", was suitably encouraged by what he called "the gutsiest performance I have seen from this side". Helped by the sin-binning of Lawrence Dallaglio for the second successive game, Bath were firmly in the game at 17-17 until a botched quick lineout in the 68th minute was knocked on by Rob Thirlby and ended in a try under the posts for Martin Offiah.
For Wasps, who must travel to Sale in next week's Zurich Championship quarter-finals, the hope had been that Newcastle would win at Northampton, offering them a backdoor route into the last six and increasing their chances of qualifying through the league. Now they must get all the way to the grand final on June 8 if they wish to play in next year's Heineken Cup, the price of their own slow start to the season.
They should have wrapped this game up during a protracted first-half, Steve Lander being forced to add 13 minutes of injury-time as a consequence of lengthy treatment to Shane Roiser and Barkley. Roiser was carried off after taking a heavy blow to the neck but recovered sufficiently to sit and watch his side take early charge without making their territorial domination count on the scoreboard.
Wasps' only first-half try was a notable exception, stemming from a slickly executed backline move which involved Offiah and Josh Lewsey before Paul Sampson, sporting a Freddie Ljungberg-inspired red stripe in his hair, finished in the right corner. Bath did manage a couple of penalties from the stand-in kicker Thirlby but the visitors would have gone well clear had Alex King not mishit two simple penalty attempts and a drop-goal.
The game still looked up when Will Green collected the ball following Ian Jones's soaring lineout catch and found the Bath defence totally absent, leaving him a clear run in from 10 metres. Dallaglio's temporary departure for killing the ball close to the Bath line, however, turned the tide and a Gavin Thomas try and a second Barkley penalty set up as taut a finale as English Rugby Ltd, in the light of recent events, could have hoped for.
Bath: Thirlby; Voyce, Cox, Davey, Danielli; Barkley, Cooper (Dalzell, 70); Barnes, Regan (Long 43), Emms, Borthwick, Grewcock, G Thomas, N Thomas (Delve, 61; Gabey, 73), Lyle (capt).
Tries: G Thomas, Long. Pens: Thirlby 2, Barkley 2.
Wasps: Lewsey; Roiser (Offiah, 18), Abbott, Denney, Sampson; King, Wood (Friday, 64); Dowd, Leota (Greening, 64), Green (McKenzie, 74), Shaw, Jones, Lock (Jenkins, 74), Worsley, Dallaglio (capt).
Tries: Sampson, Green, Offiah. Cons: King 3. Pen: King.
Sin-bin: Dallaglio 45.
Referee: S Lander (Wirral).
Attendance: 8,200.18
