Mike Ford says Bath agree with the Premiership Rugby salary cap © Getty Images

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Bath have remained silent on claims they are being investigated by Premiership Rugby over breaches of the salary cap.

Bath beat Gloucester 39-16 at Kingsholm thanks to a penalty try, two touchdowns by replacement flanker Matt Garvey and six penalties and three conversions from fly-half George Ford on Saturday.

It was a record league victory for Bath against their West Country rivals but it was overshadowed by claims that they were being probed about paying more than the £5.5 million limit on players.

When Bath head coach Mike was twice asked if he knew about an investigation and what the club thought about the reports, his reply, which he repeated twice, was: "We agree with the salary cap."

Gloucester director of rugby David Humphreys declared his club were in support of the salary cap both now and in the future, saying: "Mine and the club's view is that it is a huge issue which is not for public debate.

"It goes to the core of the game here. From someone who was involved in the PRO12, one of the big things talked about here was the competitiveness of it and that any team can beat anyone else.

"So I think it is a fantastic league to be part of and the salary cap is something we support and certainly going forward, we will be supporting it."

On the field, Bath's cross-code convert Sam Burgess, who started against French outfit Montpellier in the European Champions Cup last week, was on the bench for the West Country derby.

Burgess came on for wing Semesa Rokoduguni with 14 minutes of the game left but is scheduled to have a longer run-out in the club's final A League game at home to London Irish on Monday evening.

Ford praised Bath's defence which was rock solid for the vast majority of the match and held off a remarkable effort from Gloucester.

The head coach said: "Our defence won it today. They had 28 phases in the first-half and were very disciplined. That took the sting out of the first-half and it was similar in the second-half.

"I think we wore them down in the end. We put on our bench and got a couple of late tries. The score is not a true reflection on what went on out there. It looks like we gave them a good hiding but it is not like that at all. It is a lot closer than the score suggests."

Humphreys agreed that Bath's defence was the key factor and reflected: "I thought the scrum was a major issue for us. From the first 11 penalties given away, six were at the scrum and within kicking distance of George Ford who didn't look like missing.

"We kept the ball through a number of phases and yet their defence stood firm so we have to go away and look at how we can be more effective in attack."