They are the best by a long way

They are the best by a long way."It was no more than the truth. Bath had shown their supreme ability to think their way out of trouble From the start, Quins had come at them ferociously They had shown determination and, above all, self-belief. It initially secured them lots of lineout ball, with a rampant back row providing material for the half-backs to use.This pair, the scrum-half Rob Kitchin and Paul Challinor outside him, soon put a couple of tries on the board. Three scorching tries and a couple of nonchalant dropped goals shattered Quins' pretensions to parity with the very best.

After the game, Dick Best, the Quins coach, said: "They were brutally effective. It's the first time for quite a while that we've had a juggernaut coming towards us They were ruthless. Bath 41 Harlequins 15 FOR a full hour of mighty struggle, Harlequins clung to their dream of reclaiming what they see as their rightful place at the pinnacle of English rugby. They were two tries ahead against the top club and apparently marching towards their sixth straight league victory.Then the Bath avalanche hit them. Llanelli, in second place yesterday morning, lost 29-21 at Bridgend.At the Arms Park, Cardiff outlasted the Barbarians 49-43 and Nigel Walker, who scored a hat-trick in the same fixture last year, collected two tries this time.. Newcastle's only reply was a Tony Underwood try.In Wales, Neath made light of a 14-7 half-time deficit to hammer Abertillery 50-24 and stretch their lead at the top of the Heineken First Division to six points over Pontypridd. The England fly-half Paul Grayson kicked 16 points and the try scorers were Matt Allen and Harvey Thorneycroft.

Two of Orrell's six tries were run in by Ian Wynn while the Ireland full-back Simon Mason contributed 19 points to the visitors' cause.Northampton are one point away from their confirmation as League Two champions after beating Newcastle 26-5. Sale's two other tries came from scrum-half Mark Warr and full-back Rob Liley, who kicked a penalty as well. Saracens' tries were scored by their giant wing Kris Chesney and fly-half Gareth Hughes who was also on target with a penalty and a conversion.West Hartlepool appear certain to finish bottom of League One following their 44-22 home defeat by mid-table Orrell, and must now pray that the senior clubs succeed in their plan to scrap relegation from the top flight this season. The chairman, Sir John Hall, has even warned that the messiah who extracted them from the mess might just up and leave if it continues.Has The Perm turned? Keegan may have withdrawn his favours of approachability and daily accessibility to journalists of late but his honest, defiant and sportsmanlike responses to the defeats at Arsenal and Liverpool suggest a man digesting the contents of the books by American thinkers he reads and remaining positive amid the pain.Ultimately, his press relations matter little, unless any tension transmits itself to the team, that is To the public he remains open. If I am going to stay here next season there needs to be a clear understanding with Dublin and the players."We have got back into the first division in spite of the people in Ireland, not with their backing at all. We have no chance of being successful in division one if they behave in the same way as they have done during this season."Woodward was also unimpressed with the Exiles' display against Bedford who led for 35 minutes through a penalty by Simon Smith, but tries from Garry Halpin, David Humphreys, Justin Bishop and Nick Briers eventually saw them through.Sale revived their chances of becoming England's fourth representative in next season's European Cup with a scrappy 18-15 League One win over Saracens.The Cheshire side, thrashed 55-0 at Harlequins last weekend but now only trailing fourth-placed Wasps on points difference, owed their victory to a spectacular try early in the second half from debutant Neil Ryan, who had come on as a replacement for the injured New Zealand wing Chris Yates.Ryan, who is normally a fly-half, intercepted the ball inside his own 22 and ran the length of the pitch to touch down.

It takes time and effort to train international players."If they want to come over here to coach three nights a week 12 months a year that's fine but I will not allow the players to be taken for granted. I want the players to play for Ireland but the club is owed a duty as well. "Last November I got a call from Pat Whelan (Ireland's team manager) pulling out three players five days before a league game for a training session for a Mickey Mouse game against Fiji two weeks later They have to understand what happens over here. CLIVE WOODWARD hinted that he may step down as London Irish coach during an astonishing outburst after yesterday's 25-13 win over Bedford at Sunbury - a result which virtually seals the Exiles' return to Courage League One. The former England centre aimed his attack mainly at the Irish Rugby Football Union, saying: "Dublin need to sort themselves out I'm not here to get stuffed around. But the clock is ticking, and it is increasingly likely that rugby union will enter the professional era in the most unprofessional manner imaginable.. We got 2,500 turning up when the South-West played Western Samoa at Kingsholm.