Full-time: Bath 20 London Irish 20. Bath threw away a 17-0 half-time lead and had to be content with a draw in their Guinness Premiership top-four clash with London Irish.

Three first-half tries – scored by Stuart Hooper, Matt Banahan and Joe Maddock – had given Steve Meehan's men a commanding lead at the break.

But they made mistake after mistake after the interval – and three Irish tries saw Toby Booth's side claim what was ultimately a deserved draw.

After dominating early possession and territory, Bath opened the scoring on 12 minutes through lock Hooper.

Irish full-back Tom Homer made a mess of Butch James' up-and-under – and Bath quickly moved the play wide, with Hooper going over after Banahan had been stopped just short.

Nine minutes later, they added a second try when prop David Flatman's break in front of the posts punched a hole in the Irish defence, Alex Crockett slapped Michael Claassens' pass on and Banahan raced over out wide.

And Bath took a firmer grip on the game nine minutes before the break. James kicked possession away, only for Topsy Ojo to send an equally poor kick back upfield.

Irish No 8 Chris Hala'ufia briefly grabbed possession, but soon dropped the ball, allowing Crockett to pick up and launch a counter-attack.

He found Maddock, who in turn released Banahan, and the winger's winding run paved the way to open a gap for Maddock to score. James, having missed his first two conversion attempts, nailed the third to see Bath into a 17-0 half-time lead.

Irish struck first after the break, however, with Adam Thompstone racing in from 45 metres to score after Andy Beattie had been turned over just inside the visitors' half.

Banahan then got himself into trouble as he tried to run the ball out of his own 22, throwing a forward pass. Irish won a penalty at the scrum, which Geraghty kicked to bring Irish back to within nine points at 17-8.

Where everything had clicked for Bath before the break, their error-count was high in the second 40 minutes and they allowed Irish back into the game.

And they were soon back to within four points, Seilala Mapusua racing in to score after referee Chris White had appeared to block the path of his would-be tackler in midfield.

Geraghty missed the conversion, but from 17-0 down, Irish were right back in it at 17-13.

A successful James penalty, awarded against Irish for not rolling away from a tackle, gave Bath a seven-point cushion as they tried to weather the storm.

But the Irish onslaught continued – and they soon drew level when Ojo slalomed his way through the Bath defence, leaving James, Eliota Fuimaono and Nick Abendanon grabbing at thin air as he scored a fine solo try. Geraghty's conversion drew Irish level at 20-20, and that is how it remained.

Bath: J Maddock; A Higgins (N Abendanon 66), A Crockett (capt), E Fuimaono (S Berne 71), M Banahan; B James, M Claassens (S Bemand 78); D Flatman (A Jarvis 59), P Dixon (R Hawkins 71), D Bell, J Harrison, S Hooper (P Short 66), A Beattie, J Fa'amatuainu, D Browne (J Scaysbrook 69).

Scorers: Tries – Hooper, Banahan, Maddock. Con – James. Pen – James.

London Irish: T Homer; T Ojo, E Seveali'i, S Mapusua, A Thompstone; S Geraghty, P Hodgson; C Dermody (A Corbisiero 80), J Buckland (D Coetzee 59), A Corbisiero (T Lea'aetoa 48), J Hudson, B Casey (capt; G Johnson 80), R Thorpe, S Armitage, C Hala'ufia (D Danaher 48). Reps not used: P Richards, A Lalanne, E Hickey.

Scorers: Tries – Thompstone, Mapusua, Ojo. Con – Geraghty. Pen – Geraghty.

Ref: C White. Att: 10,600.