BATH's coruscating nine-try, 56-36 victory over London Irish went some way to explaining why the exiles have refused to release their players to the three Irish provinces taking part in the Heineken European Cup. London Irish, who have now lost five out of six Courage League games, claim they must concentrate on putting their own house in order before spreading their limited playing resources across the Irish Sea.

The thinly-veiled hint from the IRFU that England-based players who do not turn out for their provinces may miss out on international selection cuts no ice with the exiles. According to the club captain, Gary Halpin, the players would like to represent their provinces but, as paid employees of London Irish, they recognise that their first duty lay with their club, which is also preparing for a European campaign.

"We are being paid salaries here and our welfare depends on the Courage League and the European Cup," explained Halpin. "It's in our interest to get the club up and running and to use the European games to build up our form the league battles to come.

"Today we made a lot of basic errors, but I believe Europe will be good for us. Our problems can be rectified."

Duncan Leopold, the London Irish chief executive, claimed that the IRFU are being unfair in expecting the club to supply the provinces with players for a competition in which the club is also taking part.

"It would be a disgrace to use the players as a baton in a running dispute with us," he declared. "Some of our players do have contracts with the IRFU, but they are also salaried by us and we have given them the opportunity to play in the top league in the Northern Hemisphere.

Leopold insisted that London Irish remain totally supportive of Ireland, respect the needs of the provinces, and will work with them within reason. But, significantly, he pointed out that the club were also members of EPRUC (English Professional Rugby Union Clubs), which was counting on Irish. support having told all member clubs they should not release players to the Irish provinces. "Talks must take place between the IRFU and this club," he added.

Sadly, the spectacular events on the field, which included a hat trick of tries by the Bath wing Adebayo and two more by the Wigan recruit, Robinson, tended to be overshadowed by yet another confusing club-union wrangle. London Irish demonstrated sufficient fighting spirit to score four excellent tries, no mean feat against Bath, but they already have troubles enough surviving in division one without becoming embroiled in rugby politics.

Bath destroyed Irish with a first-half volley of three tries in six minutes, followed by another three in seven minutes midway through the second half. The prodigious work rate of the forwards Redman and Ojomoh guaranteed a steady supply of ball for the Bath backs, particularly Callard and Guscott, whose vision and commitment were redolent of his best England form.

The Avon club, though, paid a price for their success, losing scrum-half Nicol (hamstring) and their highly influential captain de Glanville (knee ligament) with the kind of nasty injuries which could rule them out for up to a month. The impressive performance of the replacements, Harrison and Perry, showed why Bath will keep the leading clubs looking over their shoulders in the months ahead.

"Harlequins and Wasps are the sides playing the rugby right now, but I believe we are close to firing on eight cylinders," said Jon Hall, Bath's director of rugby. "It is a fabulous game. When you're not on top of the league doubts can creep in. But I told the players, `Don't doubt the game you are playing', because I knew they had a great performance itching to get out."

Hall was hardly exaggerating when he described Adebayo, whose tries were due reward for powerful running, as "The best winger in the country if not the British Isles". Certainly the England A back should be chosen for next month's full international against Italy - assuming the selectors have decided to dispense with Rory Underwood.

It looks as though Bath's home game against Harlequins on December 7th may be the watershed of their season: defeat would probably spell the end of their title hopes, while victory would throw the championship wide open.

"In the winter months we don't want to get into a forward slog, though we're capable of coping if it comes to that," said Hall.

"There has been a lot of talk about Quins' revamped pack, but we don't know yet how good it really is. An 18-18 draw is the best result they've managed against us in a league game.

Rob Andrew's Newcastle created an English League record with a staggering 156 points against Rugby. Andrew scored 18 conversions.

Newcastle could not afford to show mercy as Rugby collapsed. The one promotion place might be decided on points difference and their 156-5 victory could come in handy. Andrew said: "We successfully targeted areas we wanted to concentrate on and the scoreboard looked after itself."

London Scottish's 31-23 defeat at Blackheath allowed Newcastle to go back top of League Two.