Premiership final: Bath hold off late Leicester surge to end title drought
Bath ended their 29-year English title drought when they survived a late surge by old rivals Leicester to triumph 23-21 in a gripping Premiership final and complete a memorable trophy treble at Twickenham on Saturday.
Tries by Thomas du Toit and Max Ojomoh gave Bath a healthy lead in the second half, only for Leicester, seeking a record-extending 12th title, hit back with tries by Solomone Kata and Emeka Ilione to set up a nail-biting finale.
Bath, who lost a similarly close game to Northampton a year ago, held out, though, to complete a memorable treble after they also lifted the Premiership Cup and European Challenge Cup having not won a domestic trophy since their 1996 league and cup double.
“We made a lot of mistakes today, we didn’t play at our best but we found a way to win, we are tough to beat,” Finn Russell said.
“The main thing about this team is the circle we have got as a group. The players, staff, we have got the whole city is behind us. If you want to win stuff, that is more important than individuals.”
Man-of-the-match Bath flanker Guy Pepper said it had been a surreal experience.
“The Premiership to this group meant so much,” he said. “I don’t think the European and the Prem Cup would have mattered if we didn’t get across the line this week. It’s a massive sigh of relief, I’m over the moon.”
In the first final meeting between the teams who dominated the English game for two decades, Leicester looked sharp from the off and scrumhalf Jack van Poortvliet sneaked over the line following a powerful maul to put them ahead after five minutes.
Bath responded with a terrific drive up the middle that ended with prop Du Toit reaching over for their first try which Russell converted and the fly-half adding a 50-metre penalty to give his side a 13-7 halftime lead.
Leicester’s South African fly-half Handre Pollard then had a horror five minutes, dragging a penalty wide before his errant pass was picked off by Russell on halfway.
The Scotland international looked certain to gallop over the line but decided to sling a pass inside for Ojomoh to touch down under the posts and seemingly settle the match 29 years after his father Steve helped Bath to their last domestic trophy on the same ground.
Pepper thought he had scored one of the great final tries after breaking a series of tackles, only for a TMO to rule it out for a marginal knock on in the build-up.
Reprieved, Leicester launched a series of tryline forward assaults that ended with Kata squeezing over and, after Pollard converted, they were only six points behind with 12 minutes to go.
Their hopes were dented when replacement prop Dan Cole, on the pitch for only 10 minutes, was yellow-carded for a late hit on Russell to bring an inglorious end to his 343-game Leicester career.
Russell picked himself up to slot over the resulting penalty, but Leicester came again and giant replacement Ilione drove over for a try converted by Pollard to make it a two-point game with three minutes to go.
A year ago it was 14-man Bath knocking at the door, ultimately falling short against Northampton, but this time it was the team who finished bottom of the league three years ago who held out for a joyous victory to cap a superb season.
“Of course I’m disappointed, but Bath have been good all season,” departing Leicester captain Julian Montoya said.
“It’s a massive honour to be one of the Leicester Tigers, but we are disappointed because we wanted that trophy and today we weren’t good enough for moments of the game.”
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