Dupuy magic sinks Bath

Julien Dupuy propelled Leicester into the Heineken Cup semi-finals with a brilliant individual try in the dying seconds of their quarter-final clash against Bath on Saturday.

The Frenchman's try in the 79th minute gave the hosts a 20-15 victory in this clash of Guinness Premiership heavyweights at the Walkers Stadium.

With the scores tied at 15 apiece and the game on a knife edge going into the final minute, Dupuy picked up the ball from the base of the ruck 20 yards out in front of the posts.

The Bath defence, fully expecting the drop-goal attempt, charged at fly-half Sam Vesty before realising that the replacement scrum-half had not released the ball.

As the Bath line careered past him Dupuy span around and sprinted virtually unopposed to the line to break Bath hearts and secure a showdown with Cardiff Blues for a place in the final.

A scrappy start from both sides saw the opening exchanges boil down to little more than a kicking fest and 20 minutes had passed before the first points were seen on the board.

Howler

They came via the boot of Vesty, who nailed a long-range penalty from wide on the left after Nick Abendanon was caught holding on.

Two minutes later when Bath were penalised a second time, Vesty was on target again with another long range attempt to take the score to 6-0.

Just past the half-hour mark and the visitors had their first chance to chalk up some points when Leicester were caught within kickable distance with their hands in the ruck.

But an absolute howler from Butch James saw the fly-half send his kick screwing wide of the posts by a country mile.

Minutes later and concerns over James' frailties with the boot appeared to be borne out when the Springbok World Cup winner spurned a kickable penalty opportunity to go for touch instead.

But on 36 minutes James and Shontayne Hape combined to tear open the Leicester defence for the first try with a magnificent break down the middle.

Hape drew the defender before releasing replacement Shaun Berne, on the pitch for barely two minutes in place of Alex Crockett, to cross on the right of the posts.

Dangerous

This time James was on target to add the extras and propel Bath into a slender 7-6 lead

Berne's try seemed to awaken something in Leicester though and they exploded into life and began to look increasingly dangerous as the half closed out.

Five minutes into the second period though and James took full advantage of the chance of some redemption for his first-half kicking nightmare.

Ben Kay provided the opportunity when he was penalised for going over the top and James stretched Bath's lead to 10-6 with a confidence-boosting goal kick.

Vesty closed the gap to a single point on 50 minutes with a penalty of his own and five minutes later retook the lead for the Tigers when Bath were penalised in front of the posts.

But another piece of brilliance saw Bath strike again in the 64th minute after Lee Mears charged down Leicester's 22 drop out.

Genius

Matt Banahan, spotting the Tigers defence drifting wide, span his way through the middle of the ruck before he was brought down five metres out in front of the posts.

Try scorer Berne was again involved in the action, latching onto a long pass from the recycled ball before feeding Joe Maddock who jinked his way to the line for a try in the corner.

James, much improved now from the first half, saw his conversion attempt bounce off the post from wide on the right to leave the scores at 15-12.

The surefooted Vesty was on target again to equalise on 67 minutes and put the game on a knife edge when Bath were penalised for going over the top.

But, with both side's unwilling to give an inch, it took Dupuy's moment of genius in the final minute to finally break the deadlock and send Leicester into the last four.