Bath 30-3 Sale: Record crowd at the Rec sees comfortable home win

Third-placed Bath thrashed Sale 30-3 in front of a record crowd of nearly 14,000 at the Recreation Ground on Friday night.

The West Country side, ignoring a lengthy injury list, struck with three tries through Matt Banahan, Kahn Fotulali'i and replacement prop Kane Palma-Newport.

George Ford's faultless goal-kicking contributed a further 15 points, while Will Addison kicked a first-half penalty for the struggling visitors.

With Anthony Watson ruled out after breaking his jaw in England training and Leroy Houston called up by Australia, Bath had as many as a dozen players unavailable.

But it took them just two minutes to open the scoring after a searing outside break by Jonathan Joseph and lightning quick ruck-ball saw Banahan burst through a barely-formed defensive line, with Ford converting from out wide.

Sale did find some rhythm, encouraged by Josh Beaumont's charge off the back of a scrum, resulting in pressure that finally yielded the penalty for Addison. 

Buoyed by the points, Sale kept Bath on the back-foot and last-ditch tackles from Aled Brew and Paolo Odogwu denied Joseph and Semesa Rokoduguni on the break.

The latter cost of a five-metre scrum and resulting penalty, converted by Ford to give Bath a slightly flattering 10-3 lead at the break, but the hosts were quickest out of the blocks in the second half and Ford kicked a second penalty as Addison hooked an attempt wide at the other end. 

Ford then converted another penalty to make it 16-3 on 56 minutes, this time punishing the visitors for poor discipline - backchat from Sale costing them 60 metres and a late tackle bringing play back to the Sale 22.

Just after the hour, Fotuali'i pounced on a loose pass from replacement Sharks scrum-half James Mitchell and scampered away under the posts for Bath's second try, again converted by Ford.

And the third try followed with Sale looking raggy, with the record attendance letting out a huge roar as local boy Palma-Newport picked off a ricochet from a line-out and dummied his way past Addison.

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