Knight to the rescue for Irish in Bath

A LAST-gasp penalty from Reuben Knight gave reigning champions London Irish their first win of the season in the Academy League beating Bath 20-19.

Bath started well when hooker Gabriel Oghre crashed over from a maul before the visitors replied through Ben Donnell narrowing the gap to 75 at the break.

A converted Brandon Baker try then gave Irish the lead and things got worse for Bath when Oghre was sin-binned on 53 minutes.

However 14-man Bath stunned the Exiles defence when Tom de Glanville produced a moment of magic to give the West Countrymen the lead.

Fergus Guirey scored Irish’s third try but the lead was snatched by Bath again when fly-half de Glanville got his second try making the score 19-17.

With minutes remaining, de Glanville was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on and replacement Knight gave the Exiles the win.

London Irish Academy Manager Patrick O’Grady said: “We played some expansive rugby and got used to the physicality right from the word go.

“We scored a range of tries and played from deep, another pleasing aspect of the game.”

After three defeats in as many games, Saracens managed to get their season going with a 59-21 the bonus-point success at Bristol. Exeter beat

Gloucester 34-26 to go a point behind league leaders Harlequins, who had a week off, while in the Northern group undefeated

Wasps remain top after an emphatic 30-3 triumph over Newcastle. Worcester leapfrogged

Northampton to second with a 43-16 victory and Sale beat strugglers Leicester, who are yet to win a game, 29-19.