Bath 49 - 21 Edinburgh: Bath contest proves timely as Edinburgh shed summer lethargy

Bath were hand-picked to serve a purpose, an attacking unit that would give Edinburgh a stern examination in the build-up to their Magners League opener against Cardiff Blues in 12 days.

Of course, defeat, by seven tries to three at The Rec on Saturday afternoon, was a difficult pill to swallow for Edinburgh coach Rob Moffat. Losing always is. Yet, as the dust settles on Edinburgh's journey south, the coach and his players should be far from down-hearted.

Twenty points conceded in a first half riddled with careless errors gave way to a far more spirited second period during which Tim Visser, twice, and Tom Brown crossed for tries. However, with the opening Magners League encounter looming large, the most important part of the exercise was the game itself.

Twenty-five players used, a first outing since February for Chris Paterson, and the opportunity for Moffat to see the likes of Alex Blair, Tom Brown and Lee Jones against decent opposition.

"We needed the game, it's as simple as that," said Moffat. "You could see from the two performances that this was our first game and they were two matches further down the line. But we will be better for it."

Twenty-one unanswered points in the first half gave Bath a commanding advantage at the interval, with impressive full-back Nick Abendanon, twice, and lock Stuart Hooper both crossing for a side that kicked off its pre-season with a narrow defeat in Aix and an outstanding 26-14 victory over Ulster in Belfast nine days ago.

"It's always difficult, but you have to weigh up what is best for the side in getting them ready for the first game," said Moffat. "Do you play more games and have less training or do you do more training work and play fewer games?

"If we play more games, we might be better prepared come the opening game. However, you always run the risk that playing more matches now will catch up with you later in the season."

London Irish, comfortable winners over the Dragons in Newport on Saturday, are next up for Edinburgh, on home soil this weekend. With counter-attacking runners like Delon Armitage, Topsy Ojo and the impressive England under-20 wing Tom Homer all likely to play, Edinburgh will need to be more careful with ball in hand.

They turned over the ball on at least ten occasions in the first half and Moffat admitted that his side's carelessness had been particularly costly. When they got it right, Visser nipped in for a brace of second-half tries to cut the deficit and Brown added a third.

Unfortunately, there were further mistakes late on and Bath, who kick off their Aviva Premiership season against Leeds Carnegie, romped home courtesy of four more tries - two from captain Luke Watson and one apiece from Guy Mercer and Matt Banahan.

Brown, Nateni Talei and Lee Jones were the stand-out players for Edinburgh with Moffat likely to consider more new blood on Saturday. "I thought we looked quite dangerous at times and that's good news. We have to remember that we had a few boys not playing and others who we were only likely to get 40 minutes from."

Scorers: Bath: Tries: Abendanon (2), Hooper, Watson (2), Mercer, Banahan. Conversions: Barkley (7). Edinburgh: Tries: Visser (2), Brown. Conversions: A Blair (3).

Bath: N Abendanon; M Carraro, (M Banahan 21), S Hape (T Biggs 64), O Barkley, T Biggs (M Carraro 40); S Vesty, M Claassens (C Cook 73); D Flatman (D Barnes 64), L Mears (P Dixon 54), D Wilson (M Lilley 67), S Hooper (B Skirving 73), D Grewcock, S Taylor, G Mercer (A Beattie 64), L Watson (capt).

Edinburgh: C Paterson (T Brown 40); L Jones (A Turnbull 40), B Cairns, A Grove (J Houston 40), T Visser; D Blair (A Blair 40), G Laidlaw (M Blair 40); A Jacobsen (K Traynor 40), R Ford (L Gibson 40), J Gilding (G Cross 40), S Turnbull (F McKenzie 21), C Hamilton (S Turnbull 40), S Newlands, N Talei (S Dewar 40), R Grant (capt).