Burgess Debuts As Bath Outgun Quins

Sam Burgess made his rugby union debut off the bench as Bath outmuscled Harlequins 25-6 at the Recreation Ground to move top of the Aviva Premiership.

The cross-code star came off the bench to play the last 20 minutes as Mike Ford's side outmuscled their visitors – tries from Matt Banahan, Kyle Eastmond, Ross Batty and Leroy Houston securing a victory that would have been more emphatic had precocious fly-half Ollie Devoto brought his kicking boots.

Bath signalled their intent immediately with some determined mauling but it was a three-quarter move that yielded the game's first try.

Horacio Agulla – called in to play at full-back at the last minute due to an injury to Gavin Henson – showed great composure to hold off his man and provide the offload for Banahan to race over the line and give the home fans a chance to warm their hands.

Devoto missed the conversion but was quick to atone by supplying the second five-pointer 10 minutes later when he sprang the lively Eastmond through the gap to round off a prolonged period of Bath possession.

This time Devoto struck the upright with his conversion, and it was not until Nick Evans had opened Quins' account with a penalty that the 21-year-old finally found his range to secure a 13-3 half-time lead for the hosts with a penalty of his own.

A Nick Easter break early in the second period forced a penalty that Evans easily converted to cut the gap to seven and when Devoto sent another effort wide of the posts soon afterwards, Quins must have briefly felt they had the momentum.

Bath's continuing dominance in the scrum told, however, and at one point Harlequins were left with no fewer than three players in the sin-bin with the home crowd screaming for a penalty try that never came.

Towering lock Dominic Day was then held up over the line by some determined Quins defence in a downpour of rain and then, on the hour-mark, came the moment that Bath and England fans have been waiting for – the introduction of Burgess.

The 25-year-old replaced Agulla in the 62nd minute to a rapturous reception but was given little chance to express himself with ball-in-hand. Bath instead opted to kick for territory and then maul their way to a bonus point courtesy of Leroy Houston's score, converted by Devoto to ironic cheers.

Burgess made a few telling contributions in the contact area by clearing out several rucks and on the only occasion he was able to showcase his running talents, looked fearsome with ball in hand as he bumped off a prop forward before attempting an ambitious offload that went to ground.