Bath Rugby
Sam Burgess: Time for me to knuckle down
PA Sport
April 25, 2015
Sam Burgess runs with the ball during Bath's victory over London Irish
Sam Burgess runs with the ball during Bath's victory over London Irish© Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images

Sam Burgess confessed his surprise at being named man of the match in only his second Aviva Premiership game in the blindside flanker role despite scoring one of five tries in Bath's 43-18 win against London Irish.

Burgess could not have scored a more typical forward's try, touching down from a catch-and-drive following a line-out on the hour. Other try scorers were Leroy Houston, Jonathan Joseph, Matt Banahan and Semesa Rokoduguni.

Asked if it was his best performance for Bath, Burgess said: "Not really. I was quite surprised actually to get man of the match. I can be a bit hypercritical of myself at times but that's never a bad thing.

"There are a few tactical things I can improve on with the forwards coaches. I've got two weeks to the next game now - knuckle down and get some hard work done.

On his try, he said: "I was just waiting for the line to appear, really. It probably wasn't my most glorious try - but I'll take it. My name is on the scoresheet but the guys in front of me did the work.

"It was a bit scrappy in the first half but we were clinical after half-time."

Bath head coach Mike Ford was happy with the five points that keep his side well in contention for a top-two spot, despite trailing 13-12 to the Exiles at the break.

"The scoreboard lied at half-time, I thought. For some reason the game unfolded where we couldn't get possession to put the phases together.

"At half-time, we showed them the stats - and some footage - that they were playing well. We said, 'you have to believe in our game, the principles and the processes. Don't worry about the scoreboard. Just believe in what you are doing.'"

London Irish interim head coach Glenn Delaney admitted his team were 'killed' by a lop-sided penalty count which resulted in Jebb Sinclair and Dan Leo being sin-binned.

He said: "First half was great. We had two chances in the red zone and took them both. We were under a huge amount of pressure and it perhaps took a lot out of us in the second half. Then you saw how good a team Bath are."

© PA Sport

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.