Danny Grewcock finds his way through blocked by Mike Catt

London Irish (15) 15
Try: Tagicakibau, Ojo
Cons: Geraghty
Pens: Geraghty

Bath (0) 7
Try: Grewcock
Cons: Barkley

London Irish eased their Premiership relegation fears with victory over Bath, despite missing a string of scoring chances.

Sailosi Tagicakibau and Topsy Ojo ran in first-half tries with a conversion and penalty from Shane Geraghty.

But the Exiles failed to press home their advantage, especially when Bath's Nick Abendanon was sin-binned.

A try from Bath and England lock Danny Grewcock, converted by Olly Barkley, gave Irish some anxious late moments.

Bath declined to give their England contingent the day off, meaning Grewcock's return in the second row with Lee Mears at hooker, while Barkley was switched to fly-half in place of Chris Malone.

But both players appeared to make it through the game without any serious injuries.

London Irish started strongly and were 15-0 up within the first 25 minutes.

Lock Bob Casey surged towards the line before Mike Catt passed for Tagicakibau to go over in the corner after eight minutes.

Bath were in trouble again after 15 minutes when they spilled the ball and Ojo came in from the blind-side to score.

Geraghty added the conversion and he stretched the lead with a penalty but Irish then failed to finish two more promising moves when Tagicakibau and Ojo were wide open.

Bath made a better start to the second half but it was not until the final quarter that they finally got onto the scoreboard.

Matt Stevens almost made the breakthrough before Grewcock was driven over from close range with Barkley converting, but Bath were unable to find a way over again.

"This time last year against Bath we were brilliant in the first half and went on a run so let's hope it's the start of something similar.

"We're delighted with the win, even though we missed a few two-on-ones.

"We knew all week we'd be involved in a massive forward battle. Now we've got to go to Sale and do the same thing."

"We felt they'd been on a run of bad results and if we'd choked them and made life hard then some self-doubt might have crept in.

"When we started we weren't as positive as we should have been. We let ourselves down badly.

"If a couple of balls had gone to hand and a few decisions been made it might have been different."

London Irish: Armitage, Ojo, Mordt, Catt (capt), Tagicakibau, Geraghty, Hodgson; Lea'aetoa, Coetzee, Rautenbach, Kennedy, Casey, Roche, Armitage, Murphy.
Replacements: Hatley, Russell, Hudson, Leguizamon, Flutey, Willis, Everitt.

Bath: Abendanon, Stephenson, Fuimaono-Sapolu, Berne, Maddock, Barkley, Walshe; Barnes, Mears, Stevens, Borthwick (capt), Grewcock, Beattie, Delve, Feaunati.
Replacements: Dixon, Jarvis, Short, Scaysbrook, Williams, Bory, Walker.