Tigers back at Twickenham

England fly-half Toby Flood kicked five penalties as Leicester beat Bath 15-6 at Welford Road in the Guinness Premiership semi-finals.

Victory means regular season league leaders Leicester will defend their title against Saracens at Twickenham on May 29.

The scores were tied at 6-6 at half-time after Olly Barkley and Flood had kicked two penalties apiece in a fiercely-contested opening half.

But the Tigers took a grip on the game after the interval and Flood added three further penalties to seal his side's passage to Twickenham.

The game opened at a frantic pace and Bath full-back Nick Abendanon came close to gathering an intelligent Butch James chip, before hooker Lee Mears broke through in a promising opening from Steve Meehan's side.

And Barkley rewarded that attacking endeavour by claiming the game's first points with a 12th-minute penalty after the Tigers were penalised for hands in the ruck.

But the centre was off target with a difficult effort from near the left touchline five minutes later.

Barkley added his second penalty at the end of an absorbing opening quarter but Flood got the Tigers on the board with a three-pointer of his own in the 23rd minute.

Leicester turned to their forward power with a series of driving mauls close to the Bath line putting the visitors under intense pressure.

Brave

But a brave defensive effort, led by lock Stuart Hooper, saw the visitors clear their lines.

The hosts pulled level when prop Martin Castrogiovanni won a penalty at a scrum and Flood was successful from around the 40-metre mark, although referee Chris White had to call on the video referee to adjudicate after his assistants Paul Dix and Dave Pearson were unable to determine if the ball had gone over the posts.

Leicester began the second half in purposeful mood with Flood and Anthony Allen kicking them deep into Bath territory.

And they should have taken the lead after a lovely flip pass when in retreat from Flood saw Alesana Tuilagi find some space, but the Samoa cap failed to find fellow winger Scott Hamilton who was free outside him.

Another powerful Leicester attack saw Mears flop over the ball to concede a 55th minute penalty, but Flood was off target from wide on the right.

But the England fly-half took full advantage when Castrogiovanni again proved too much for David Flatman to handle at a scrum, bisecting the uprights from 45 metres to give Leicester the lead for the first time.

And he added to his tally again in the 64th minute with his fourth successful penalty.

Problems

Further scrum problems followed for the visitors, who were being forced to try and play their way out from deep such was the home side's territorial dominance, and Flood again punished them with eight minutes remaining.

There was no way back from there for Bath, who remain without a win at the home of the Tigers since November 2003, with the only two defeats in their last 13 Premiership fixtures coming at Welford Road.