Barkley sunk in Bath victory

Stand-in coach Steve Meehan has played down fears over Olly Barkley's fitness.

Fears over Olly Barkley's fitness ahead of England's autumn internationals were played down, despte the centre not appearing after half time in Bath's victory over Worcester.

Bath's acting coach Steve Meehan admitted that Barkley suffered a "personal injury" in the 17-11 victory at the Recreation Ground, but insisted that the 24-year-old should be available for his country.

"Olly went in to make a tackle and a boot flicked up into his groin," said Meehan.

"He's got a personal injury there, and I don't think he'll be doing a lot of running around at the England training session next week.

"It's a question of waiting for the first two weeks because he can't do anything on it," he said.

"After that we'll see how he progresses."

Although it was a scrappy game, Bath were worthy winners over a Worcester side who remain rooted to the bottom of the Guinness Premiership table.

Meehan admitted that despite the result it was a disappointing game.

"The main objective was to win and we did that, although we certainly didn't entertain anybody," he said.

"We didn't look after the ball as well as we should have and as a result we didn't flow."

Opposite number Anthony Eddy was frustrated by Worcester's lack of discipline after seeing captain Pat Sanderson and prop Chris Horsman sin-binned for killing the ball.

It was Horsman's third consecutive yellow card and could result in a ban from the Rugby Football Union.

"It's extremely disappointing," said Eddy of the lack of discipline.

"I'll have a look further at the game to see exactly what they were for so we can deal with it.

"We haven't hit panic stations or anything at this time. It would be nice to have a few more points on the table but they'll come as the season goes on."