Once upon a time Bath used to toy cruelly with their victims. Sometimes in their own back yard they would reveal practically nothing until the last quarter. And then suddenly they would spring into life, dispatching even their closest rivals against an indecent scoreline. Times have indeed moved. Not on, just moved.

Bath, against that trend of old, started well. They set out with the zeal of a side whose downward creep towards the drop zone has coincided with the upgrading of Rotherham's promotion credentials. The more the Premiership clubs try to ring-fence their exclusivity, the more Rotherham snip with the wire cutters. It is growing increasingly anxious in the basement. A slice of south Yorkshire is going up, and one of the elite is going to have to make way for them.

Bath wanted to knock on the head any notion that it might be them. They are far too illustrious for all this relegation nonsense. Take this for starters, they told Northampton. Have a bit of Mike Tindall on the charge. Have a bit of any of the six Test players in the pack. Up they all drove.

Now Bath needed a cool head to go with the froth. Up came Olly Barkley, already capped by England and still only 20. Just the pedigree to convert passion into points. He missed both penalties and sent a drop kick wide. He did kick a penalty a little later and he did make a dancing break to provide a glimpse of his talent, but for the moment his one cap seems to come from the Henry Paul try-it-for-size school of experimentation. Or put another way, Bath are missing Mike Catt.

The penalty Barkley slotted served not so much to settle his side as press Northampton's starter button. In the space of nine minutes Paul Grayson had three shots at goal, two of which were accurate. It took a fine tackle by Iain Balshaw - at least he was functioning in defence - to prevent Northampton from scoring tries.

Trailing by three points and with merely 45 minutes left on the clock, Bath opted for a scrummage rather than a pot at goal from a penalty. It had to work. It ended with Balshaw being penalised for not releasing and then giving away 10 metres for some backchat.

The value of boring old penalties was revealed to them soon enough as Grayson kicked two more. Nine points adrift, Bath were more resigned now than impassioned, and they began to leak tries. Matt Dawson nipped blind from a ruck, drew two defenders and gave James Brooks the room he needed to hand off the last would-be tackler.

There was one brief rally, a flash-frame of how things used to be. Tindall went from principal runner to lead kicker as he landed a penalty. Then a multi-phased build-up, including Tindall in more recognisable guise as midfield charger, saw Tom Voyce cross for the try.

Again, the scores only served to trigger better things from Northampton. Dan Richmond, one with a big future, went over, and Peter Jorgensen finally skinned Dan Lyle on the wide outside to make the scoreline even uglier for the home team. The scoreboard - not that the old machine in the corner of the Rec was working - can still make indecent reading, but who would have thought that it would Bath who can no longer bear to stare at it?

Bath: Balshaw; Thirlby, Crockett, Tindall, Danielli; Barkley (Voyce 59), Dalzell; Barnes, Long (Regan 75), Mallett (Emms 53), Borthwick, G Thomas, Scaysbrook (N Thomas 58), Lyle (capt).

Try: Voyce. Pens: Barkley, Tindall.

Northampton: Beal; Brooks, Jorgensen, Leslie, Tucker (Cohen ht); Grayson, Dawson (Malone 76), T Smith, Thompson (Richmond 57), Stewart (Morris 70), Phillips, Brouzet, Blowers, Pountney (capt), Seely (Soden 74).

Tries: Brooks, Richmond, Jorgensen. Con: Grayson. Pens: Grayson (4)

Referee: C White (Cheltenham).

Attendance: 8,200

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