Bath 38-27 Leicester: Mike Ford's men see of Tigers in last match of the season - Ruck

Bath 38-27 Leicester: Mike Ford’s men see of Tigers in last match of the season

  • Bath came from behind to finish the season with a flourish, seeing off Leicester 38-27 at the Recreation Ground.
  • tries from Fraser Balmain, Peter Betham and Mathew Tait gave the Tigers a half-time lead
  • Ollie Devoto, Francois Louw and Jeff Williams though went over after the restart to secure the win for Mike Ford’s men
  • Richard Cockerill’s side had already secured a 12th consecutive Aviva Premiership Rugby semi-final
Semesa Rokoduguni’s try double and a superb George Ford kicking display saw Bath Rugby surge to a win over fierce rivals Leicester Tigers in an enthralling clash at the Rec.

Tigers, already sure of a Premiership play-off place, trailed to Semesa Rokoduguni’s early breakaway score.

But they then dominated and led at the interval thanks to tries by Fraser Balmain, Peter Betham and Mathew Tait.



Bath, who stay in ninth, blitzed the visitors thereafter, running in four tries to one to earn a comfortable win.

Ollie Devoto, Francois Louw and Rokoduguni all went over in a barnstorming start to the second period, and after Will Evans touched down from close range for Tigers, Bath made sure of the points with a late Jeff Williams score.


MAN OF THE MATCH
 Man of the Match: Semesa Rokoduguni

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Will Homer, 8 David Denton, 7 Francois Louw (c), 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Charlie Ewels, 3 David Wilson, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Nathan Catt
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Max Lahiff, 18 Kane Palma-Newport, 19 Dom Day, 20 Leroy Houston, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Jeff Williams

Leicester: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Peter Betham, 12 Jack Roberts, 11 George Catchpole, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Will Evans, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 Ed Slater (c), 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Logovi’i Mulipola, 18 Greg Bateman, 19 Dom Barrow, 20 Laurence Pearce, 21 Jono Kitto, 22 Tommy Bell, 23 George Worth


Date: Saturday, May 7
Venue: Recreation Ground
Kick-off: 15:30 BST (14:30 GMT)
Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant Referees: Peter Allan, Roger Baileff
TMO: Trevor Fisher