Bath drought nearly over

Bath remain on course for their first trophy since 1998 after beating Sale 36-14 in the semi-finals of the European Challenge Cup.

Bath will face Worcester next month bidding to end a four-game losing streak in finals and a repeat of this performance should be enough.

They were dominant in the front five and looked dangerous every time the ball went through the hands, particularly in a blistering first-half display.

They also benefited from some errors at crucial moments from Sale, who are now left to concentrate on securing a Premiership play-off spot.

Charlie Hodgson edged Sale ahead with a second-minute drop-goal but that was the only time the visitors led. From the kick-off Hodgson attempted to clear from inside his 22 and Michael Claassens charged down and touched down.

Olly Barkley tagged on the extras and on six minutes the Bath fly-half stretched the lead to 10-3 after the Sharks front row were penalised at a scrum.

Rampant

Bath were rampant at this point and a magnificent handling move was finished off by Michael Lipman for their second try inside the first 10 minutes.

Hodgson cut the deficit after Bath were caught offside and after 12 minutes the England fly-half's quick-thinking earned his side a try.

Bath were fortunate not to be a man down after illegally halting a Sale attack in front of their own sticks and with everyone expecting a kick at goal, Hodgson chipped into the corner for Chris Mayor to collect and score unopposed.

On 19 minutes Nick Abendanon was pinged for holding on and Luke McAlister kicked a long-range penalty to make it 17-14.

But Bath still looked likely to score every time they attacked and they duly did on 21 minutes, Claassen making the initial break and Danny Grewcock crashing over.

After such a start the game inevitably lost some of its intensity although both sides were still prepared to throw the ball around and put on a show.

With Bath taking a 10-point lead into the interval, the first second-half score would be crucial.

Tense

It took 17 tense minutes to arrive but when it did it settled the contest in Bath's favour.

Just like their opening try of the first half, it came from an error. Sale were attempting to break from inside their own half but McAlister took his eye off the ball, dropped it and Lipman hacked on for Andrew Higgins to outpace the defence and score.

The icing on the cake was a Matthew Banahan score from Butch James' grubber kick into the corner, but by then Bath were already looking forward to a second successive final in this competition.