Wasps sink at Bath

Bath made it two wins from two at the start of their Premiership season with a 30-23 victory over Wasps on Saturday.

The visitors were made to pay for more costly errors at the Rec as wingers Tom Biggs and Kyle Eastmond added second-half tries to Matt Banahan's score in the opening period.

Olly Barkley added 15 points with the boot for the home side, while two Nicky Robinson penalties plus tries from Tom Varndell and Christian Wade had kept Wasps in it

Barkley booted the hosts into a fifth-minute lead with a penalty after Marco Wentzel infringed at a line-out before Wasps responded when Robinson levelled the scores from close range.

The first try arrived after 25 minutes when smart hands from Dan Hipkiss freed marauding centre partner Banahan to fend off Elliot Daly's weak tackle and cross.

Barkley added the conversion to make it 10-3 but Robinson fired over a penalty on the stroke of half time to reduce the deficit to four points.

Feeble

Barkley quickly wiped out that score with a penalty of his own two minutes into the second half after the home pack had destroyed the Wasps scrum.

The visitors' task soon became a whole lot tougher when Biggs capitalised on a dreadful pass from Robinson which ricocheted off Tom Palmer to allow Biggs to kick through and beat Wade to the touchdown.

Barkley knocked over the extras for a 20-6 lead but Wasps hit back instantly in unlikely fashion, when lock Wentzel chipped from the left edge of the Bath 22 and Varndell gathered to race in.

With 15 minutes to go Eastmond twisted and jinked his way through a series of feeble Wasps tackles to claim his first try since the former St Helens man switched to the 15-a-side code.

But six minutes later Wade responded by running in from 60 metres after Joe Launchbury had made the most of a turnover to give Wasps hope.

The visitors looked like missing out on a losing bonus point when Barkley added a late three-pointer, but Robinson ensured the visitors did not leave empty handed when he slotted a penalty with the last kick of the game.