Bath (17) 34
Tries: Mears, Barkley, Banahan, Maddock, Barnes Cons: Barkley 3 Pens: Barkley
Sale (3) 15
Tries: Cohen, Ormsby Con: Wigglesworth Pen: Wigglesworth

Lee Mears (right) opened the scoring for Bath under new ownership

Bath cantered to a bonus-point victory in their first game under the ownership of multi-millionaire businessman Bruce Craig, who took control last week.

Bath took a 17-point lead thanks to tries from Lee Mears and Olly Barkley, who also kicked a penalty.

Matt Banahan scored a third Bath try after the break, and Joe Maddock and David Barnes went over either side of a Ben Cohen try for the visitors.

Sale added a late Kris Ormsby try, converted by Richard Wigglesworth.

Wigglesworth, replacing the ill Charlie Hodgson, struggled with his kicking, while Bath eased to the win after a wasteful opening 15 minutes.

Sale must now look to their home game against Newcastle, on Friday, to make safe their Premiership status - but the result keeps Bath's faint play-off hopes alive.

Bath head coach Steve Meehan:

"We were a little bit rusty but it was a good performance leading into Tuesday evening's game with Northampton.

"It's been a week that none of us has experienced before and there were errors for the first 20 minutes, but in the end it was a nice start for the new chairman.

"But now nothing less than three wins will do. The reality of it was we had to win today and we did it with five tries and a bonus point, but we've still got to rely on other teams slipping up."

Sale head coach Kingsley Jones:

"It was probably the best first 20 minutes we've managed away from home for a long time. But then we couldn't get our hands on the ball because of indiscipline.

"A lot of young fellows fronted up but when you get two or three players making basic errors and missing tackles you are going to have problems.

"It's all about winning to be safe, but also about getting some confidence into the team. We are fighting for our lives. This could go to the wire."

Bath: Abendanon, Maddock, Carraro, Barkley, Banahan, James, Claassens, Barnes, Mears, Bell, Grewcock, Hooper, Beattie, Salvi, Watson.

Replacements: Catt for Barkley (67), Hape for Banahan (42), Little for James (53), Bemand for Claassens (71), Dixon for Mears (40), Jarvis for Bell (61), Hobson for Hooper (67), Skirving for Salvi (63).

Sale: Vakacegu, Cueto, M. Tait, Kennedy, Cohen, Wigglesworth, Peel, E. Roberts, Briggs, Forster, C. Jones, Schofield, Koyamailbole, Seymour, Ormsby.

Replacements: James for Vakacegu (61), Leck for Peel (67), O'Donnell for E. Roberts (67), M. Jones for Briggs (50), Kerr for Forster (44), Cox for Schofield (61), Fearns for Koyamailbole (67).

Not Used: Thomas.

Att: 11,700.

Ref: Dave Pearson (RFU).

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