Bath 27-21 Leicester: Hosts bounce back to win at Twickenham
Last Updated: 08/04/17 5:36pm
England star Anthony Watson scored two late tries as Bath came from behind to beat Aviva Premiership play-off rivals Leicester at Twickenham.
Watson struck in the 68th and 71st minutes, with Bath overcoming an early 12-point deficit to triumph 27-21 and move level on points with fourth-placed Tigers.
Watson's England team-mate Jonathan Joseph also touched down, while Leicester-bound England number 10 George Ford added two penalties and three conversions.
Early tries by flanker Brendon O'Connor and full-back Telusa Veainu put Leicester in charge, but they lost their way during the final quarter.
Bath's decision to move a first Premiership home game in their history away from the Recreation Ground was further rewarded with a 61,800 crowd, and they ensured that they remained firmly in the play-off race with just three regular season games remaining.
Tigers fly-half Freddie Burns, who will move in the opposite direction from Ford to Bath next term, kicked three penalties and a conversion before limping off injured 15 minutes from time, yet Leicester were left to reflect on what might have been as Watson took centre-stage.
The Tigers made a flying start, prising open Bath's defence within five minutes following sustained approach work which ended with O'Connor finishing impressively wide out, before Burns' conversion opened up a 7-0 lead.
It went from bad to worse for Bath just seven minutes later when Joseph tried to run from inside his own half, but he was robbed of possession by O'Connor, who found Veainu in space.
He then easily outsprinted Bath's retreating cover defence and touched down in the corner for a try that owed everything to Tigers' sharpness and Bath's hesitancy, and although Burns saw his conversion attempt drift wide, Leicester led 12-0 in as many minutes.
Bath needed to respond after such a poor start, and they struck following impressive work by Ford, who was twice involved in build-up play before delivering a scoring pass to an unmarked Joseph.
Ford converted to further cut the deficit, before he and Burns exchanged penalties before the break and Tigers trooped off at half-time holding a 15-10 advantage. They lost skipper Tom Youngs, though, after he appeared to suffer a thigh injury, and he was replaced by George McGuigan.
Leicester were not noticeably knocked out of their stride, though, and Burns extended their advantage with a penalty from just one metre inside Bath's half.
Centre Mathew Tait took over from Tom Youngs as Leicester skipper, but then departed the action on 48 minutes after taking a head knock when he attempted to tackle Banahan, and Ben Youngs became Tigers' third different captain of the match.
A Ford penalty cut the gap to five points again, before Burns completed his penalty hat-trick in what proved to be a final scoring act before he was replaced by Owen Williams.
But Bath ensured a thrilling finish, highlighted by Watson's quickfire double - his second score came after Tigers wing JP Pietersen had been sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on - and they held on despite Bath substitute prop Beno Obano receiving a yellow card for a scrummaging infringement.
