Tindall finds happy ending to the strife of Bath

Bath 23 Harlequins 9

Almost like old times at Bath – three wins in a row, each of them in a different competition, and a posse of England backs on hand to shepherd Mike Tindall over for the clinching try late in the second half. The Rec cheered their men to the rafters, and Bath leapt two places in the overnight table to the heady heights of ninth.

Yes, any optimism must be tempered by circumstance, but under the Anglo-Australian management regime of Jack Rowell and Michael Foley, Bath have at least – or should that be at last – rediscovered their pride.

Against a Harlequins side burdened by the worst away record in the country, and lacking any kind of feelgood factor from the previous week's cup win over Leeds, the home side started well and dogged their way through the hard times when they needed to.

Bath's first try, after 14 minutes, was a model of efficiency – in other words, most unlike what The Rec has had to stomach for the last couple of years. A short drive from a line-out on the halfway line established an attacking platform, and Olly Barkley's cross-kick found Iain Balshaw in space on the left wing. The England full-back, four matches into his comeback after a lengthy lay-off, did not fancy his chances of making the corner, but the ball was recycled to the right, then back via the forwards to the left. Balshaw was there waiting, and with the help of Simon Danielli, he set up Kevin Maggs, who squirmed away from Paul Burke's grasp to score near the posts.

With Danny Grewcock and Steve Borthwick fit to lock the scrum, and Nathan Thomas and Adam Vander doing their bit behind, Bath had more than enough line-out options. Quins, for their part, were not entitled to any great expectations, having won only once here in 16 seasons of league rugby. Worse than that, they have not had a victory anywhere on the road in the Premiership in 18 matches since March 2001. The statistics, on this evidence, were not lying. The penalty count was a landslide in Quins' favour in the second half – 14 to two – but overall their use of the ball was stodgy and uninspiring.

Cod is an endangered species; so too, surprisingly, was Alex Codling on the Quins throw. Instead the ball went almost exclusively to Tony Diprose at the tail. Now, Diprose possesses possibly the best hands in his position of any Englishman – they ought to fly him out to Melbourne – and at times you expect him to bring out a pack of cards and ask his opposite number to choose one.

For all his efforts, though, Quins' moves repeatedly came to grief in the midfield, and Dan Luger, the England wing making his first appearance since injuring cruciate ligaments on Sevens duty in April, saw little meaningful action. "We were pretty flat," Quins' coach, Mark Evans, said. "We never got any momentum into our game."

For that, Bath had to thank some outstandingly aggressive defence in the tackle area, in addition to an encouraging ability to think on their feet at the fringes of ruck and maul. They carried on from the Parker Pen and Powergen Cup wins over Bridgend and Wasps respectively with a dominant first 20 minutes.

Burke landed a penalty goal for Quins for a hand in a ruck; otherwise, Bath deservedly led 3-0, when Barkley potted a simple penalty in front of the posts, and surged ahead again at 10-3 when Maggs went over and Barkley converted.

Barkley looked confident in the No 10 jersey after his woes of last season, and finished the first half with a penalty. Though Burke put over a couple of penalties in the opening 11 minutes of the second half, Quins – by Evans's admission – did not merit any better. The bonus point for finishing within seven disappeared with Tindall's try in the 76th minute.

Bath, with Matt Perry having joined his England confrère Balshaw, attacked the short side of a scrum, Barkley put a lateral chip on a plate for Tindall and the centre sprinted home from 35 metres.

Bath: I Balshaw; T Voyce, M Tindall, K Maggs, S Danielli (M Perry, 56); O Barkley (C Malone, 78), G Cooper (A Williams, 84); D Barnes, J Humphreys (A Long, 60), J Mallett (A Galasso, 55), S Borthwick, D Grewcock (capt), G Thomas (A Beattie, 78), N Thomas, A Vander (J Scaysbrook, 75)

Harlequins: N Williams; R Jewell, C Bell (V Satala, 61), W Greenwood, D Luger; P Burke, N Duncombe (S Bemand, 74); J Leonard, T Fuga, L Gomez (J Dawson, 67), B Davison (J Evans, 58), A Codling (S Miall, 78), A Vos (capt), T Diprose, P Sanderson (A Tiatia, 46).

Referee: C White (Gloucestershire).