TEENAGER Olly Barkley helped to secure Bath's second Zurich Premiership victory of the season over London Irish and proved that Bath don't need Mike Catt to produce moments of magic.

Fly-half Barkley's dazzling chip, catch and pass to set up a 36th-minute try for centre Mike Tindall was straight out of the repertoire of skills normally associated with the usual incumbent of the No 10 shirt at the Rec.

And it handed under-strength Bath a crucial half-time advantage they never relinquished, the boot of returning England man Matt Perry doing the rest as the home side secured a priceless 19-11 triumph.

With Perry and Steve Borthwick returning from Saturday's England bench duty, Bath were handed a pre-match boost, but coach Jon Callard still reshuffled his options with England reject Iain Balshaw shifted into midfield to partner comeback man Tindall.

It was Perry who gave Bath the lead on 13 minutes, punishing an Irish offside offence by slotting a

30-metre penalty.

But the third-placed Exiles, driven forward by Springbok hooker Naka Drotske, dominated in territory terms only to see their good work wasted by a series of handling errors.

Tindall should have opened the try account midway through the half when he gathered a bouncing Irish chip-ahead and sprinted 70 metres upfield. Balshaw and Tom Voyce continued the move, but as Bath spread the ball wide again, Tindall dropped possession.

Bath were left to rue that missed opportunity as Drotske led an Irish charge, Bath came in from the wrong side and wing Jarrod Cunningham stroked over a 45 metre penalty.

Three minutes later though, Bath broke the deadlock again. Barkley, spotting the Irish line up quickly, deftly chipped over their heads and dashed through to gather. The pass to Tindall looked forward, but play went on and the England centre rounded off a super move with an extravagant 'swallow dive'.

Perry converted, but back stormed Irish, Cunningham sliding a penalty wide before making amends with a simpler effort after Gareth Cooper had been penalised.

Bath nearly restored their advantage two minutes later when Perry's kick from 30 metres struck a post, but as Irish tried to run out of defence and failed, finally transgressing to give Perry another chance which he took.

The visitors' prospects nose-dived 10 minutes after the break when centre Rob Hoadley was sin-binned for a high tackle on Tindall. But Bath struggled to take advantage of the extra man before Perry's fourth penalty nudged them 10 points clear a minute before Hoadley returned.

He repeated the trick with 10 minutes remaining but the visiting side threw everything into one last effort.

With a minute remaining, skipper Ryan Strudwick won a line-out and the rolling maul took it up to Bath's line. Fly-half James Brown chipped to the corner where wing Paul Sackey got above Voyce to touch down.

Brown though missed the conversion and a possible bonus point for his side and Bath celebrated another vital win

Bath: Perry, Voyce, Balshaw, Tindall, Danielli, Barkley, Cooper, Barnes, Long, Emms (Mallett 40), Borthwick, Gabey, Scaysbrook, Beattie, Lyle (capt). Subs: Chrystie, Mears, Thirlby, Crockett, El Abd, Hopcroft.

Attendance: 7,656.

l BATH and England centre Mike Catt singled out the front five as the reason behind England's 21-15 victory over Australia at Twickenham.

Graham Rowntree, Dorian West, Phil Vickery, Ben Kay and Danny Grewcock dominated their Australian counterparts in all facets of play as England went into the break 15-0 to the good.

And Catt admitted the England players "never felt they were going to lose''.

He said: "I think it was a brilliant performance, especially from the front five, and I thought they were awesome.

"Our driving play, breaking through the middle of them, was excellent.''