Irish ease into semis with Bath win

London Irish…26

Tries: Cornish 19, 43 Scragg 29, Miller 75

Conversions: Atkins 20, 30, 44

Bath……………7

Tries : Ellis 80+1

Conversions : Worboys 80+3

London Irish breezed into the semi-finals of the Premiership Rugby Cup for a second successive year as they beat Bath to maintain their 100 percent record in the competition and top Pool C.

First half tries from Matt Cornish and Ed Scragg, before a second for Cornish and one for Isaac Miller in the second period were enough to see Irish home despite conceding a late consolation score to Bath’s Tom Ellis.

Irish secured 20 points out of 20 for the pool stage, giving them the top seed and a home semi-final having been the only team to achieve the feat this season.

Coach Declan Danaher said: “It was won on the back of our defensive effort, which I thought was superb tonight.

“It was probably a little bit rusty in attack but the pleasing thing was we were still creating chances and it’s good to have something to work on.

“I’m massively proud of the lads [on their 100 per cent record]. After last year’s final they’ve talked about wanting to go all the way. There’s not many big names out there but the boys have really scrapped and come together through the tournament so far.”

Irish certainly did have to scrap as they eventually gained the lead through a driving maul, with hooker Cornish earning a deserved score having carried well and secured the key turnover from Bath’s sole attack of the first half.

The visitors’ poor discipline was not only blighting their chance of gaining any kind of foothold in the game but also making the contest something of a stop-start affair.

The longest stoppage would follow soon after as Logan Trotter was carried off with what appeared to be a horrific broken ankle, but Irish’s remaining players responded well to the long break in play as they notched a second through Scragg’s sharp carry off the base.

It remained 14-0 at the break, but Irish effectively secured the win soon after half-time as Jack Cooke and then Eddie Poolman made line-breaks in quick succession, before Cornish finished things off with a similar pick up to Scragg’s.

Bath finally started stringing together some meaningful attacking play, but Juan Schoeman knocked on over the line and the reliable maul sealed the bonus point for Irish with Isaac Miller the scorer.

And though Bath did manage a consolation through Ellis, they end the competition winless having only managed to record one point in Pool A from their four games.

London Irish: Trotter 7 (Walsh 24, 7), Matt Williams 6, Poolman 7, Hitchcock 8 (Bradbury 76), Dykes 6, J Atkins 8 (c), Englefield 7 (O’Sullivan 52), Gigena 5 (Summerfield 51, 7) Cornish 7 (Miller 55, 7) , Parker 7 (Green 56, 7) , Caulfield 7 (Brooke 66, 6), Scragg 8, Cooke 8, Donnell 7, B Atkins 7 (Smart 59, 6)

Bath: Harris 7, De Glanville 5 (Hennessey 59, 4), Venter 6, Wright 6, Butt 6, Worboys 6 (Goss 48, 7), Carr-Smith 6, Schoeman 5 (Stanley 63, 5), Doughty 5 (Spandler 63, 6), Griffin 5 (Millar-Mills 51, 7), Michael Etete 7 (Read 57, 5), Tonks (Merigan 69, 5), Ellis 7, White 6 (Staddon 51, 5), De Carpentier 7

Referee: Sara Cox

Star Man: Jacob Atkins (London Irish)

Attendance: 3352