In this memorable battle of top against bottom, it was mostly unclear which Premiership team was which. Bath were eventually defeated in the Tigers’ second success in 12 league visits to the home of their great rivals.
But after the threat of another rout for the hosts had hung in the air, Bath hassled and disrupted their opponents and came close to a famous win. Leicester’s power and precision was decisive, though, as they stretched their lead to 11 points at the top of the table.
“That’s one that got away,” said the Bath head coach, Neal Hatley. “They’re a good side, they’re well drilled, they’re well coached. But that feels like we’ve missed a real opportunity.”
Leicester’s first visit to their opponents’ 22 demonstrated why they are top: they sliced through thanks to a fine floating pass from Freddie Burns to Dan Kelly. After Nemani Nadolo’s heavy-duty carry, the No 8 Jasper Wiese forced his way over and Burns converted. Bath were struggling to contain Leicester’s carriers but when the wind held up a Leicester kick, a beautiful grubber by Ben Spencer sent Will Muir over.
A classy piece of work by Kelly soon had the Tigers breezing through again: Guy Porter was released and offloaded to Richard Wigglesworth, who strolled under the posts. The ease of the score did not bode well for the home side and when Muir was shown a yellow card for taking out Bryce Hegarty, things looked to be heading south even faster.
Hegarty, however, was penalised on the Leicester 22 and Orlando Bailey converted the penalty. Some excellent work at the breakdown from Max Ojomoh brought another penalty. Bath twice kicked for the corner and were rewarded when a grubber by Jonathan Joseph was smartly finished by Ojomoh. Bath believed.
It got better when Josh McNally and Bailey combined to put Josh Bayliss into space on the left. The back-rower had only just come on, but showed a clean pair of heels to Burns to speed over. Bailey converted to edge Bath in front.
A last-minute penalty from Paddy Jackson was enough for London Irish to snatch victory in a thrilling Premiership encounter as they toppled second-placed Saracens 32-30 in the capital.
In a lightning quick start, Benhard Van Rensburg crossed over in the corner after taking a long pass from Curtis Rona inside the opening two minutes. Then Van Rensburg went over in the right-hand corner untouched for his second score.
The rest of the half passed without much incident until Tom Woolstencroft bundled over for Saracens from the back of a driving maul following a lineout.
Ay the start of the second half Adam Coleman touched down, with Jackson's extras putting the home side's lead back to nine points. Rotimi Segun went over for Saracens, before Irish restored their lead with a bonus-point try straight away as Ollie Hassell-Collins touched down in the corner.
A penalty from Lozowski with less than seven minutes to play cut the lead to six, then Coleman was sent off for a high tackle on Alex Lewington with five minutes remaining. A Nick Tompkins try in the corner cut the lead, with Lozowski keeping his cool to put the visitors ahead for the first time with three minutes remaining.
Irish made one last push to grab the victory and a penalty for offside – right in front of the posts in the dying seconds – was slotted over with ease by Jackson to take the points and move the hosts up three places to fifth in the table.
Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd rued missed opportunities as his side suffered a narrow 22-21 defeat to Sale at Franklin's Gardens. George Furbank's kick at the death sailed wide and there was agony for the home side and ecstasy for the away side.
Sale raced into a 10-0 lead when Arron Reed ran a try in from the half-way line after AJ MacGinty's penalty, but through Juarno Augustus Saints hit back quickly with a try of their own. At half-time Sale led 15-14 with Sam James scoring for the visitors, before Alex Coles scored just before the break.
Saints took the lead for the first time through Alex Mitchell just after half-time, but Rohan Janse van Rensburg's try and AJ MacGinty's conversion put Sale into the match-winning 22-21 lead. Furbank's effort went wide at the death to the frustration of the home supporters.
The hosts were competing, and then some, but Leicester slowly started to turn the screw after the break, camping in the home 22 and winning a couple of scrum penalties. A decoy run by Nadolo allowed Burns to score against his former club. He converted his own score to restore Leicester’s lead.
Muir was soon scorching down the left and bringing the home crowd to their feet yet again, but after Leicester scrambled in defence, Hegarty’s penalty stretched Leicester’s lead to four points. Bath came close to shoving over with 15 minutes left, but a penalty for the Tigers shifted the momentum away from them again at a crucial moment.
Danny Cipriani was introduced by Hatley and the former England wing Chris Ashton joined the fray for Leicester. As the final minutes ticked down and with the considerable wind behind them, the Tigers lodged themselves near the opposition line, pinning Bath back and extinguishing any hopes of a dramatic finale.
“It was a tough game, a high-pressure game and one with pretty fine margins,” said the Leicester head coach, Steve Borthwick. “Freddie Burns has been absolutely amazing since he rejoined us and he was terrific again.”
