London Irish duo both bag hat-tricks as first-half blitz stuns Bath
Ollie Hassell-Collins and Ben Loader both scored hat-tricks as London Irish produced a breathtaking first-half performance to blow Bath away.
Irish led 35-5 at the interval before taking their foot off the pedal to allow Bath to stage a spirited rally.
The visitors had no answers to the slick handling of the home backs in the opening period, their cause not helped by early injuries to forwards GJ van Velze and Josh McNally and a yellow card for Josh Bayliss. It was Bath’s fourth consecutive league defeat, which has seen them ship a total of 154 points.
For Irish, Paddy Jackson also scored a try and converted six. Niall Annett scored two tries for Bath, while Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Matt Gallagher, Joe Cokanasiga and Piers Francis were also on the try-scoring sheet, with Orlando Bailey adding four conversions.
Irish opened the scoring with their first attack. Will Joseph burst away before feeding Jackson, who sent Hassell-Collins flying over.
Bath then suffered two further setbacks in quick succession. First flanker Van Velze was forced to leave the field with a wrist injury before Irish hit them with a superb second try. Benhard Janse van Rensburg drove hard to put the defence on the back foot and when the ball was recycled, slick handling gave Loader the chance to score with an athletic finish in the corner.
Bath looked in danger of being overrun but it was their turn to produce a flowing move which culminated in a try for Hamer-Webb, yet it took only a minute for them to concede another try.
They bungled the restart and conceded a penalty to give Irish an attacking platform. With McNally lying injured on the floor, the home side took advantage with more quick passing, creating a second for Loader.
McNally departed with a wrist injury before Bath’s woes continued with a yellow card for Bayliss for a deliberate off-side.
This proved disastrous as they conceded two tries in the No 8’s absence. Hassell-Collins strolled over on both occasions to complete his hat-trick, with Jackson converting both for a 35-5 interval lead.
Bayliss returned from the restart in time to see his side pick up the first score of the second half with a try from Gallagher. Bath continued to have the better of the third quarter and it came as no surprise when Cokanasiga forced his way over. A comeback looked to be on the cards but Irish quelled this threat when Loader raced in under the sticks to complete his hat-trick.
A try from Annett from a driving line-out gave Bath a bonus point, and with Irish lock Api Ratuniyarawa then sin-binned, Annett scored a second to reward a much-improved second-half from the visitors.
However, Jackson weaved his way over to emphasise his side’s superiority before Francis took advantage of another Irish yellow card, for Will Goodrick-Clarke, to leave Bath two points short of a second bonus point.
Match details
Scores: 5-0 Hassell-Collins try, 7-0 Jackson con, 12-0 Loader try, 14-0 Jackson con, 14-5 Hamer-Webb try, 19-5 Loader try, 21-5 Jackson con, 26-5 Hassell-Collins try, 28-5 Jackson con, 33-5 Hassell-Collins try, 35-5 Jackson con, 35-10 Gallagher try, 35-15 Cokanasiga try, 35-17 Bailey con, 40-17 Loader try, 42-17 Jackson con, 42-22 Annett try, 42-24 Bailey con, 42-29 Annett try, 42-31 Bailey con, 47-31 Jackson try, 47-36 Francis try, 47-38 Bailey con.
London Irish: H Arundell, B Loader, W Joseph (J Stokes 73), B Janse Van Rensburg, O Hassell-Collins, P Jackson, B White (C Englefield 65), D Fischetti (W Goodrick-Clarke 47), A Creevy (J Vajner 80), L Chawatama (O Hoskins 47), A Ratuniyarawa, R Simmons (J Caulfield 61), B Donnell, T Pearson, M Rogerson (C Cunningham-South 63).
Bath: M Gallagher, J Cokanasiga, J Joseph (P Francis 55), M Ojomoh (R McConnochie 61), G Hamer-Webb, O Bailey, L Schreuder (M Green 58), J Schoeman (L Boyce 55), T Dunn (N Annett 67), W Stuart (D Rae 61), Q Roux, J McNally (W White 23), G van Velze (T Ellis 6), M Reid, J Bayliss.
Referee: K Dickson.
