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Bath Rugby head coach Mike Ford pleased to avoid injuries in big win over Mogliano

Bath Rugby head coach Mike Ford said the most pleasing aspect of yesterday's emphatic Amlin Cup win over Mogliano was coming through with a clean bill of health. Bath have faced a double header against the Italian outfit over the past fortnight and followed up their 55-8 away success with a 63-0 win at The Rec – their tenth straight victory in all competitions. Winger Matt Banahan celebrated his 150th appearance for the club by grabbing four of Bath's 11 tries, while Carl Fearns and Olly Woodburn both crossed the whitewash twice. Matt Garvey, George Ford and a penalty try completed the hosts' rout. The back-to-back bonus-point wins have taken Bath's total to 18 points in Pool 2, five clear of second-placed side Newport Gwent Dragons. They can qualify for the quarter-finals with victory at Dragons when the competition resumes next month. "We took it as an opportunity to see, no matter what the scoreboard said or how easy it was with the ball, how good we could be," said Ford. "We challenged ourselves to take our game to a new level. "We have got control of the group and we can possibly go to Dragons and win that game and qualify – that's pleasing. "All we wanted to do is get control of the group and we've done that, but we still probably need one more win. "The pleasing thing was that in both games we got a bonus point before half-time and got no injuries. That's absolutely huge. "If I could have called the game off at half-time I think I would have done because that's the only thing that could have gone wrong for us, if we lose somebody to injury going into these three important games over Christmas." Bath now return to Aviva Premiership action with a run of games against established top-four teams over the festive period. Ford's side currently sit third in the table but welcome Harlequins to The Rec next weekend before facing consecutive away matches against Northampton Saints and champions Leicester Tigers. "Our challenge this week is to get up the intensity," said Ford. "Quins played Racing [in the Heineken Cup]and played them last week, so they are already at that intensity. "We don't want to get cold against Harlequins. They are up to speed and we are not. "We can't wait for these next three games. Somebody said to us we are unproven and we agree. We just can't wait to see where we are."

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Bath Rugby head coach Mike Ford pleased to avoid injuries in big win over Mogliano


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