Irish breeze past Bath to reach final four

By NICK POWELL

London Irish ….26pts

Tries: Cornish 19, 43 Scragg 29, Miller 75

Conversions: Atkins 20, 30, 44

Bath …………………. 7pts

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.

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.

Logan Trotter was carried off with what appeared to be a horrific broken ankle, but Irish 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.

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.

One game remains in the Premiership Cup pool stages as Bristol Bears host Sale Sharks on February 3rd before the four semi-finalists Exeter Chiefs, Sale, London Irish and Northampton Saints lock horns the following week.

Bath lineout coach Luke Charteris said: “That was a game where we just beat ourselves, particularly in the first half. We actually defended pretty well but we killed ourselves with our ill-discipline.”