Warriors can't stop Bath

Matt Banahan: touched down in the first half at the Rec

South African flanker Francois Louw scored on his debut as Bath made it two wins from two in the LV= Cup with a 46-13 thrashing of Worcester.

The all-Aviva Premiership clash saw the home side run in seven tries at the Rec, fly-half Tom Heathcote touching down while also kicking four conversions and a penalty.

As well as Louw, Bath also gave a first start to Samoa prop Anthony Perenise, a tryscorer off the bench in the 46-16 rout of Newport Gwent Dragons last weekend.

Heathcote put the home side ahead with a penalty after seven minutes but they infringed at the restart and Joe Carlisle replied with a 40-metre effort from a difficult angle.

Impressive phases

Worcester strung together some impressive phases after drawing level, and a nicely-judged Carlisle pass set wing Josh Drauniniu free on the left but Dan Hipkiss was back to make the tackle.

However a penalty followed soon after, allowing Carlisle to boot the Warriors in front.

Bath hit back immediately when Ollie Woodburn offloaded to Heathcote, who raced in from 40 metres. The fly-half also added the conversion, putting Bath 10-6 ahead.

They went further clear on 25 minutes as new recruit Louw finished off a couple of strong drives by Ryan Caldwell and Nathan Catt, who then also had a hand in his team's next try.

The loosehead prop showed tremendous pace for a front rower, allowing him to collect a ricocheted kick on his own 10 metre line and launch a counter-attack from deep.

The ball passed through seven pairs of hands during the stunning move before Matt Banahan finished it off, the England international cruising over in the corner.

Heathcote's conversion sent Bath in at the break with a three-score lead although Carlisle had struck the post with another penalty attempt.

Convinced

The home team came out in search of the bonus point at the start of the second period and were convinced they should have had a penalty try when Woodburn was pushed in the back as he stooped to collect a bouncing ball just short of the tryline.

Drauniniu escaped with a ticking-off but, taking a scrum from the penalty, Bath didn't have to wait long for their fourth score, Banahan's pass sending Jack Cuthbert over by the posts.

Worcester did briefly respond when Drauniniu carved through the home defence to touch down for a try that Carlisle converted, though their hopes of a late comeback disappeared with flanker Sam Betty's sin-binning in the 69th minute for a dangerous tackle on Louw.

Bath made the most of having an extra man, Ben Skirving driving over from close range before Woodburn finished off a neat overlap.

Nick Abendanon grabbed the seventh and final try for Sir Ian McGeechan's men, Heathcote knocking over another conversion to finish with a personal tally of 16 points.