Bath were plunged into desperate relegation trouble at the bottom of the
Zurich Premiership after being taken apart by a clinical London Wasps side at
Adams Park.
The former champions produced an error-strewn performance and only rallied
when it was too late after falling 23-0 behind at the break.
Bath, who dominated the English game in the 1980s and for most of the 1990s,
now face a huge battle to avoid the drop after London Irish pulled a 14-12 win
out of the fire at Saracens.
And Thursday night's encounter against the Exiles is now a game Bath simply
have to win to keep their survival hopes alive.
The visitors were the only side to have embarrassed Wasps at Adams Park this
season - beating them 20-17 in the Powergen Cup back in December - but the gulf
between the teams in this game was vast.
Wasps were able to leave scrum-half Rob Howley out of the starting line-up,
allowing the lively Martyn Wood to dart and dodge around the fringes, and also
withdrew skipper Lawrence Dallaglio after he picked up a cut before the break.
It made little difference as Wasps' back row mopped up all over the field.
Flanker Joe Worsley and centre Stuart Abbott grabbed first-half tries, John Rudd
struck in the second and a faultless kicking display from Alex King did the
rest.
Simon Danielli and Gareth Cooper got Bath on the board after the break, but
they picked up another injury to their fragile backline. Tom Voyce joined the
walking wounded when he pulled up with a leg injury in the first half and joins
Mike Tindall (foot), Matt Perry (groin) and Iain Balshaw (hip) in the treatment
room.
Bath only had one sniff of the tryline in the first half, when Elvis Seveali'i
was held up short after Wasps lost possession at a defensive line-out. All over
the field the visitors were second best to a Wasps side that was snappier with
the ball in hand and quicker to the breakdown.
Fly-half King provided the early platform with a drop goal and penalty in the
first quarter and, once his side put some passages of play together, Bath's
defence disintegrated.
Worsley was the first to take advantage - after Mark van Gisbergen and Fraser
Waters combined down the right - by twisting through weak tackles and galloping
over from 15 metres with King converting.
Abbott was the next after 31 minutes following his superb outside break to
score from 30 metres, twisting through to give both Mike Catt and Ollie Barkley
the slip.
King converted and the half ended on a desperate note for Bath as Wales
skipper Jonathan Humphreys was shown the yellow card for killing another attack
led by Worsley and Josh Lewsey. King's penalty made it 23-0 to add to the
misery.
Perversely, Bath found some tempo early in the second half playing with 14 men
and the arrival of replacements Spencer Davey and Alessio Galasso for Malone and
John Mallett with Catt shuffling to fly-half.
Catt's influence was apparent after Bath won a penalty and he rapidly moved
the ball right for Barkley to put Simon Danielli into the corner. Barkley
converted to salvage some pride before adding a penalty in the 53rd minute.
Normal service was restored after that when King added a penalty and drop goal
to take his personal total to 19 points with a faultless kicking display.
And any chance of a comeback was ended by John Rudd's breakaway try in the
74th minute, van Gisbergen converting.
Bath struck again after Wasps had replacement hooker Phil Greening sin-binned
but Gareth Cooper's 77th-minute try and Barkley's conversion were of little
consequence.
Teams:
Wasps: van Gisbergen, Lewsey, Waters, Abbott, Rudd, A. King,
Wood, Dowd, Leota, W. Green, Shaw, Birkett, Worsley, Volley,
Dallaglio.
Replacements: Howley, Greening, Logan, Erinle, Lock, Scrivener,
Mackenzie.
Tries: Worsley, Abbott, Rudd.
Cons: A. King 2, van Gisbergen.
Pens: A. King 3.
Drop Goals: A. King 2.
Sin Bin: Greening (73).
Bath: Voyce, Danielli, Seveali'i, Catt, Maggs, Malone, Cooper,
Barnes, Humphreys, Mallett, Borthwick, Grewcock, G. Thomas,
Beattie, N. Thomas.
Replacements: A. Williams, Mears, Galasso, Barkley, Davey,
Scaysbrook, Delve.
Tries: Danielli, Cooper.
Cons: Barkley 2.
Pens: Barkley.
Sin Bin: Humphreys (40).
Att: 8,231
Ref: Roy Maybank (RFU).
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