RUGBY: Williams hopes to stick the boot in (From Wiltshire Times)

RUGBY: Williams hopes to stick the boot in

1:20pm Friday 21st September 2012 in Sport News By Owen Houlihan

CENTRE Ben Williams has urged Bath to put their feet on the throat of a struggling London Irish side after the ‘miss-step’ of last week’s home defeat by Northampton.

Williams, who made his first start of the season against the Saints after the knee injury to Matt Banahan, admitted the players were kicking themselves after their first reverse of the campaign, which was not helped by an off-colour display with the boot.

Irish have shipped 40 points in losing all three of their opening games and the 23-year-old insists the visitors must give them no cause for hope at the Madejski Stadium tomorrow (3pm).

“They’re going to come out of the blocks fast and we’re going to be ready for that,’’ said Williams.

“They are not a bad side.They’ve got great individuals and great coaches and they are going to be fired up after their first few matches. Obviously the pressure will build on them, but they’re going to be hungry for it.

“We just need to get in the right position on the field to bring our game to them. We know if we do that we have a good chance of winning the game.’’

By common consensus, Bath failed to do that last week, something kicking coachBrad Davis says has been addressed this week “We let ourselves down with our kicking game,’’ admitted the Australian.

“We weren’t able to find the right areas and that allowed Northampton to dominate field position. In the first half it was completely different. We were kicking from the 10m line and able to get lineouts in their half and put some pressure on.

“In the second 40 it didn't go the way we wanted it to and it's something we've worked on this week. “Against the top sides if you kick it down their throat they are going to return it with interest. So, as a unit, all aspects of that game have got to be going well.

“The kicking game has got to put us in the position where we exert maximum pressure on the opposition.’’

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