Steve Meehan was not entirely pleased with his side's performance despite Bath's 32-16 Aviva Premiership victory over Leeds.
Bath boss wants players to step up despite five-point triumph
Steve Meehan was not entirely pleased with his side's performance despite Bath's 32-16 Aviva Premiership victory over Leeds.
The west countrymen scored four tries despite the absence of Olly Barkley, who injured a thumb before the game, eventually running out comfortable winners after leading by a point at half-time.
The players' attitude did get the thumbs-up from the director of rugby, who will be looking for an improved performance next week against London Irish.
"Yes, we got give points away from home but the performance is something that we need to improve on," said Meehan.
"Our set-piece must get better but when your work ethic is high and you're determined to perform, you've still got a chance of winning.
"From an attitude point of view we were very happy."
Powerful
Meehan highlighted Matt Banahan's display after his impressive performance in the centres alongside Shontayne Hape.
"Matt is a big powerful player and I think he's going to develop into an outside centre," he added. "He's got great technique and a great offloading game.
"We saw that today and he's quite happy to make some outrageous passes and they tend to come off.
"He did well defensively too and I thought he and Shontayne established a good partnership. I see Matt playing there quite a bit this season."
Class
Leeds director of rugby Andy Key admitted Bath's class shone through in the second half after a promising start from his side before the break.
"We felt very strong at half-time and the chat in the changing room was very positive," he said. "We were disappointed in the first half that we made so many chances but turned the ball over too easily.
"That was really the crux of it and in the second half a different Bath side came out. We knew that would happen because they are past masters at turning games around.
"We knew that we would have to be stronger and we weren't. We cannot go on making those mistakes that we did today.
"Our defence has worked for us favourably in the past. We'll look at what happened today as teething problems and we'll fix them.
"It's the first game of the season and there are no worries from our side, but we cannot keep giving away tries like that."
