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Bath's winless home form in the Guinness Premiership this season continued when they were defeated 16-0 by London Irish at a windswept Rec.

Ryan Lamb (pictured) was the match winner for the Exiles, dictating the pace of the game with some intelligent kicking and scoring all of the visitors' points.

Bath welcomed London Irish to a blustery and wet West Country sitting second from bottom in the table, 11 points off European qualification and in desperate need of victory.

But it was the Exiles who adapted better to the awful conditions and Lamb in particular had the hosts under constant early pressure with some great wet weather rugby

Bath, in contrast, were naive and error-strewn and Irish registered their first score from a period of Bath possession.

The home side showed neat hands to retain possession in the face of intense Irish pressure, but when the ball came to full-back Nick Abendanon his hesitation allowed Lamb to charge down his attempted kick, collect the loose ball and cross the line for a try.

The fly-half converted his own score to put his side seven points ahead

Bath were playing the conditions as badly as Irish were playing them well, and gave away five soft first-half penalties.

Despite the conditions, Lamb will be disappointed to have converted only one to give his side a 10 point advantage heading into the break.

With the weather allowing little flowing play, the visitors continued to excel at their percentage brand of rugby, which is mostly alien to their running insincts.

And when Lamb converted a penalty after another Bath indiscretion the game was all but over.

Auxiliary wing Peter Hewat could have put the game beyond doubt but, having collected a fortuitous break of the ball, did not quite have the pace to get to the corner and after cutting inside was held up on the line.

The Exiles continued to have the better of the set plays and when Paul Hodgson fed Lamb from a ruck, the England Saxons fly-half kicked a fine drop goal in the 67th minute to complete the scoring.

Bath had a late chance to register a try but - indicative of their night - a knock-on deprived them a more respectable final score and any hope of a bonus point.

Marcus Foley / Eurosport