Bath were awarded a simple penalty after a few minutes and Butch James immediately grabbed responsibility but continued his poor form as he hooked the ball wide. However the Bath Number 10 made up for this miss within a minute when he finished a clever play by Bath to score the opening try of the game. However he again hooked his conversion kick wide to leave the score at 0-5.

The ELV controversy and confusion struck again as Duncan Bell was penalised close to half-way after 13 minutes for not staying on his feet but the Irish kicker, Peter Hewat followed in the boots of Butch James by missing two goal kicks, although to be fair both were over 40 metres from goal. 

Bath thought they had scored a second try after 18 minutes but Joe Maddock was adjudged to be offside as James kicked a grubber through the Irish defense but the visitors had been awarded a penalty and finally Butch James slotted home a kick at goal to make the score 0-8.

Michael Lipman showed his confidence in his kicker by asking him to kick a difficult touchline penalty after 24 minutes and the South African didn't let him down to make the score 0-11. Five minutes later, referee Pearson penalised the home side once again but Butch James wasn't able to maintain his form and missed his kick. From the next play London Irish were penalised and Jack Cuthbert was asked to take the kick and the result was spot on to make the score 0-14.

Picture courtesy Empics

Alex Crockett was sent to the sin bin after 34 minutes for fighting in a ruck with David Paice and conceded a kickable penalty. Irish changed their kicker to Eoghan Hickey but he too missed, this time from 38 metres. Losing Crockett weakened Bath's defence and almost immediately Irish were awarded a penalty in front of the Bath try line. They opted for a scrum rather than a kick and Bath kept them out for several phases but eventually the extra man and concerted pressure saw London Irish score through prop, Alex Corbisiero. Hickey failed with his kick to leave the score at 5-14 with just over two minutes remaining of the first half.

Moments later the crowd roared their approval at referee Pearson getting injured and being replaced by everyone's favourite, Ashley Rowden. Referee Rowden's first act was to award the visitors a penalty for Chris Hala'ufia having his hands in a ruck and Jack Cuthbert secured a 35 metre penalty to make the half-time score 5-17. 

Picture courtesy Empics

Michael Lipman gave away an early penalty for an unfair tackle and Hickey continued the kicking problems of his team by maintaining their 100% miss rate. However he was given another opportunity two minutes later and Hickey successfully slotted home his kick to maker the score 8-17. 

Irish attacked straight from the re-start and were only stopped a metre short of the Bath try-line following a last gasp Crockett tap tackle on Sailosi Tagicakibau. Bath were awarded a penalty to clear their lines after the attackers didn't stay on their feet. Irish were penalised again for this particular ELV, although this time on the edge of their twenty-two, but Cuthbert was unable to add to the Bath score.

With fifteen minutes of the game left Irish scored a further penalty to maker the score 11-17. Bath defended well to keep the home side at bay but appeared unable to get the ball and make use of what little possession they had.

The controversial situation of losing all props then hit the game when Alex Corbisiero left the field but wasn't replaced by another prop.

Picture courtesy Empics

With four minutes left Bath were penalised for going in to a ruck at the side but instead of opting for goal, Irish kicked for touch but were unable to benefit from this ploy. However Bath suffered at the hands of old-boy Elvis Seveali'i who ran through their defence to score a very late try to make the score 16-17. Fortunately Hickey missed the conversion with 85 seconds left.

A very late penalty to Bath gave the visitors a great opportunity to wind down the clock. Cuthbert put the ball between the posts to take the score to 16-17 and just as Irish were re-starting the final whistle was blown to give Bath Rugby victory.

Referee: Dave Pearson/Ashley Rowden

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