London Irish opened their account in the Premiership this season with a 29-22 win over Bath at Madejski Stadium.
Steven Shingler was on form with his boot as Irish, who were coming off the back of three hefty defeats managed to hold on for their first win.
Tries either side of half-time, one from Halani Aulika just before the break and another from Jonathan Joseph on 46 minutes, were vital.
Kyle Eastmond was the only one to go over for Bath on 28 minutes as the rest of their points came from the boot of the always reliable Olly Barkley with five penalties and one conversion.
Irish did not help themselves as Jamie Gibson was sin-binned early in the second-half, but Irish defended well whilst a man down. Ian Humphreys, who was given his debut, was superb at fly-half and did bring something different to the side that seemed to have been missing in their previous games, which gave Irish the edge.
Irish did have a nervous last ten minutes in which Bath came at them.
Shingler, who seems to have a experienced head on his shoulders for a young man, calmly slotted home five penalties and two conversions to secure the man of the match award.
It was Barkley's two penalties later in the second-half that helped Bath earn a bonus point. But it was Shingler who slotted home his fifth penalty that secured it for the Exiles.
The scorers:
For London Irish:
Tries: Aulika , Joseph
Cons: Shingler 2
Pens: Shingler 5
For Bath:
Try: Eastmond
Cons: Barkley
Pens: Barkley 5
Yellow cards: Gibson (London Irish - 51st min)
London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Topsy Ojo 13 Jonathan Joseph , 12 Steven Shingler, 11 Marland Yarde 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Tomás O'Leary, 8 Ofisa Treviranus 7 Jamie Gibson, 6 Declan Danaher (c), 5 Matt Garvey, 4 Bryn Evans , 3 Halani Aulika , 2 Scott Lawson , 1 Max Lahiff.
Replacements:16 David Paice , 17 Jerry Yanuyanutawa , 18 Alan Cotter, 19 George Skivington, 20 Jon Fisher, 21 Anthony Watson, 22 Shane Geraghty , 23 Jack Moates
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Kyle Eastmond, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Ben Williams, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Olly Barkley, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Carl Fearns, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Stuart Hooper (c), 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Nathan Catt.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Paul James, 18 Kane Palma-Newport, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Ben Skirving, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Stephen Donald, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Andrew Pearce, Kevin Stewart
Comments
APV1 says...
@ heart_of_oak - not a clue. I have him a better player than both Hoops and D-Day, but there must be something the Bath (and England) selectors are, or aren't, seeing.
I, too, have him as an England (and Lions mid-week tourer) player, but I must be missing something.
Posted 11:55 25th September 2012
heart_of_oak says...
APV1, any idea why Dave Attwood is always on the bench this season ? Are these blokes Day and Hooper really better than Attwood ? It's a genuine question, not a criticism. I ask because I know nothing about those blokes. But I had been expecting Attwood to be considered for England this year and he'll not stand much chance if he doesn't play for the 1st team.
Posted 19:41 23rd September 2012