Bath stole the first line-out of the game stormed upfield on the back of a Mike Catt kick and

Bath stole the first line-out of the game, stormed upfield on the back of a Mike Catt kick and hammered themselves at the Irish lines, in vain The Exiles’ defences held firm. Then it was Irish’s turn and they looked a lot more inventive and persistent than their opponents.Bath were kept on their toes and had to keep out the marauding right-wing Paul Sackey before Brendan Venter led a thrust through. Sadly, in their desperation, Bath strayed offside under pressure and Everitt, who had earlier missed a long-range attempt, made no mistake this time.Bath began to look untidy and flustered. Errors abounded and they conceded another penalty which Everitt knocked over. The home side were just beginning to look as if they were running out of steam and ideas when Ollie Barkley landed a penalty shortly before the interval and they suddenly rediscovered their fire, headed upfield and sent a wave of panic through the Exiles.Sackey aimed a wild kick at a ball that bobbled close to the try-line. Although no Bath man could get hands to it, Bath were awarded a scrum and from that the lock Kevin Maggs was sent through to the line on a crash ball. From the resultant ruck Maggs got his hands on the ball and forced his bulk over for Barkley to complete a remarkable turnaround on the stroke of half-time.Two errors, the second a crass one, when Jonathan Humphreys was caught on the wrong side of a ruck midway through the half, undid all the good work and let Irish back in front with two further Everitt penalties.

Not until much later did Bath wrest back the initiative and the lead with Barkley’s second successful penalty.Bath: Tries Maggs, Seveali’i; Conversion Barkley; Penalties Barkley 2. London Irish: Penalties Everitt 4; Drop goal Everitt.Bath: M Perry (E Seveali’i, 7-11); S Danielli, K Maggs, M Tindall (S Davey, 66), O Barkley; M Catt (E Seveali’i, 76), G Cooper; D Barnes, J Humphreys (L Mears, 60-76), J Mallett (A Galasso, 56), S Borthwick, D Grewcock (capt), G Thomas, N Thomas (G Delve, 66), A Beattie.London Irish: M Horak; P Sackey (K Barrett, h-t), N Burrows, B Venter, G Appleford; B Everitt, D Edwards; M Worsley (N Hatley, 50), N Drotske, R Hardwick (S Halford, h-t), R Strudwick (capt; K Roche, 80), R Casey, J Cockle (D Danaher, 14), C Sheasby, K Dawson (K Roche, 40+2; h-t).Referee: C White (Cheltenham).. The brave new regionalists of Welsh rugby have five professional squads to select and sign before the start of next season – five teams, but only four chief coaches. Gareth Jenkins of Llanelli, a one-club servant with a worldwide reputation as a master of the game’s tactical and motivational arts, is the human equivalent of a done deal, and has been since the radical re-structuring of the sport in the Principality was little more than a twinkle in a committee-man’s eye. The merest suspicion of a move to replace Jenkins as the divine ruler of Stradey Park would mean blood on the streets of Carmarthenshire.
Tonight, Stradey will open its gates to another capacity crowd of 10,800 for the first of this season’s Heineken Cup quarter-finals – a plum match against the fierce Catalans of Perpignan. The locals expect victory and a third ?te European semi-final in four seasons – Llanelli have played host to 13 French teams down the decades and won on each occasion – and with Scott Quinnell in full warpaint (the old boy plays about one game in three these days, but it tends to be good) they start as clear favourites.Jenkins, however, is acutely conscious of the threat posed by Olivier Saiset’s side, a team powered by an out-sized front five boasting class acts in Marc Dal Maso and Rimas Alvarez Kairelis. “This is a massive game for the club,” the coach said yesterday.

“If we are favourites, it is only because we have home advantage. There are no bad teams left in the tournament and I would certainly place Perpignan among the best eight sides in Europe. We have played them three times in this competition, twice last season, but they seem to me to pose a different threat now.”To a large extent, this new threat revolves around Manny Edmonds, the former Wallaby outside-half who gave the Lions all the grief they could handle during their 2001 tour of Australia. He and another player who could hardly be less Catalonian if he tried – the raw-boned Canadian No 8 Phil Murphy – have the ability to make Llanelli sweat, and are very definitely up for the contest. “Llanelli’s record in Heineken Cup rugby makes them a reference point in the European game,” said Murphy.