Bath came into the game at Welford Road in poor form and were hoping to replicate last season’s semi-final result to get their season back on track. However, a resolute and professional Leicester side put an end to that and got their revenge.
Bath were quick off the mark as they scored in the seventh minute following a superb dummy pass from Matawalu to find Matt Banahan who, on his 200th Bath appearance, sped down the line and popped the ball to Anthony Watson who eased over to give Bath the lead. Unfortunately, George Ford narrowly missed the conversion so the game stood at 0-5.
During the following scrum, Leicester were awarded a penalty and Tommy Bell calmly slotted home to bring the game to 3-5.
After 30 minutes of playing, Bath looked set to score their second try of the game, when unfortunately they misplaced the final pass that would have seen them cross the line. Telusa Veainu intercepted the pass and raced down the line to score right in the corner. Tommy Bell was unsuccessful with his conversion and so the score remained 8-5.
Bath were then penalised for creeping offside and Bell smoothly placed his kick to give the Tigers an 11-5 lead at half time.
Half-time: Leicester 11-5 Bath.
Straight from kick off, Bath were awarded a scrum penalty and George Ford saw that the kick was well taken to bring Bath to within an inch of Leicester.
He then successfully kicked another, much more difficult, penalty on the touchline to bring the game level.
Bell then took the Tigers ahead after taking two penalties in quick succession; he tragically missed the first but slotted the second.
Towards the end of the game, Bath’s David Denton was shown a yellow card as the away side gave their all to prevent Leicester going over the line to score.
Controversy surrounded Leicester’s next try as England international Dan Cole scored, but the Bath player’s argued the ball had been knocked on in the build-up. However, the TMO showed that no such infringement had occurred and the try was awarded. Bell slotted the conversion from a tight angle and the game finished at 21-11.
Full-time: Leicester 21-11 Bath.
