BATH head coach Mike Ford admitted his side are "fragile'' as their European Champions Cup hopes were dealt a severe blow by English rivals Wasps at the Rec.

Outside centre Elliot Daly scored a try and dropped a goal as Wasps crushed their 36-10 to remain top of Pool Five and stay firmly on course for this season's quarter-finals.

The home side, who have still to face Champions Cup holders Toulon home and away next month, now face an arduous task in terms of quarter-final progression.

But they could offer few complaints after being heavily outgunned in the forward exchanges and seeing the early promise of a Semesa Rokoduguni try quickly evaporate.

Bath head coach Ford said: "They played well, but we are very disappointed. Our scrum got fixed in the second half, but we need to ask questions why it wasn't very good in the first half.

"They are a good side. They defended well and I thought Jimmy Gopperth was outstanding. We played too much rugby in the second half, which I can understand because we were chasing the scoreboard.

"It is an ugly period for us, but we will come out of it stronger. We will keep our chins up. We live to fight another day in this competition.

"We are a bit fragile. To go from 7-0 up to 23-7 down is not great. Our scrum was a big problem, but there were other things as well.

"We will be honest with ourselves on Monday morning. We will get a bit of flak, but it is what gets said inside, really, that counts. We are in this together, and we will get through it."

Wasps boss Dai Young described Daly as "a cert" for Eddie Jones' first England squad after he starred in the demolition.

New England head coach Jones, who was a spectator at the game, is due to name an England elite player squad next month, and Young has no doubt about Daly's pedigree.

"Elliot just gets better and better," Young said.

"We all know he can do the flashy bits and we all know he is exceptional, but he is doing the bread and butter stuff as well.

"He is doing the simple things really well, then he is adding icing on the cake with some of his special play.

"I thought he was fantastic in defence today and his kicking out of hand was really good.

"For me he is a cert in the England squad. There is a lot of competition for the actual starting XV, but he is a certainty in the squad, I believe."

Fly-half Jimmy Gopperth scored 23 points as Wasps recorded a second away win of their Champions Cup campaign.

After suffering a dramatic late defeat against Bath in Coventry last Sunday, Wasps proved in no mood to let history repeat itself.

Gopperth claimed a try, while the New Zealander kicked four penalties and three conversions - he also added the extras to Daly's first-half touchdown and a late Alapati Leuia try - with Daly slotting a drop-goal and leaving brittle Bath sunk without trace.

Young added: "We couldn't have wished for much better today. We were disappointed to lose last week, but in saying that we don't feel that we played well on that occasion. The balance of our game was wrong.

"This week there was a far better balance. We controlled the field position, we didn't give away silly penalties like we did last week and, when we got opportunities, we took them.

"It was a real composed performance, especially after going 7-0 down. Our set-piece allowed us to play the game as we wanted to.

"You don't come to Bath many times and get a good win. I am really pleased with the performance. We kept playing and played to the game-plan.