Bath hand Michael Cheika first Premiership defeat in charge of Leicester Tigers
Bath made it two wins from two in the Premiership this season after they saw off rivals Leicester Tigers 20-15 at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Sunday.
Will Muir, Tom de Glanville and Guy Pepper crossed for tries while Finn Russell and Ben Spencer knocked over a total of five points off the tee for the visitors.
Leicester‘s tries came via Jack van Poortvliet and Dan Cole with Jamie Shillcock kicking a conversion and penalty goal as Michael Cheika‘s side fell to a defeat.
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A poor box-kick from Leicester skipper Van Poortvliet gave Bath the chance to exert huge early pressure with Tigers’ try-line being continuously battered but the visitors could not make it count.
They turned down two kickable penalties in favour of attacking line-outs but it proved to be the wrong call as twice they were held up over the line.
A 50/22 from fly-half Shillcock relieved the siege and it was now the hosts’ turn to threaten but their momentum was halted when centre Izaia Perese was yellow-carded for a high challenge on Joe Cokanasiga who departed to fail an HIA.
Tigers looked to have overcome the setback when a pass from Hanro Liebenberg sent Ollie Hassell-Collins racing over in the corner but the wing lost possession in the process of touching down.
However, the first score still went the way of the home side with a penalty from Shillcock giving them a 21st-minute lead.
That advantage was short-lived as Russell made a clean break but the move was faltering until Ollie Lawrence recovered possession for Muir to gallop down the left flank and score.
Perese was able to return from the sin-bin with no further damage done to the scoreboard and in time to see his side regain the lead.
Two poor kicks from Russell put his side under the cosh and Van Poortvliet made him pay by dummying over with Shillcock’s conversion giving Leicester a 10-5 interval lead.
Five minutes after the restart, Muir was helped off with a leg injury so Bath were forced to play fly-half Orlando Bailey and flanker Josh Bayliss on the wing.
The reshuffle did not stop them producing a well-executed move which ended with De Glanville out-flanking the cover defence to bring the scores level.
A speculative hoof out of defence from Lawrence won a 50/22 and gave Bath an attacking platform from where Pepper finished off a series of forward drives. Russell converted but missed a penalty before Spencer stepped up to kick one and seal victory.
There was just time for Leicester to secure a losing bonus-point when Cole forced his way over from close range.
The teams
Leicester: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Izaia Perese, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Jamie Shillcock, 9 Jack van Poortvliet (c), 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 George Martin, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Finn Theobald-Thomas, 17 James Cronin, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Côme Joussain, 20 Kyle Hatherell, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Ben Volavola, 23 Mike Brown
Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Will Butt, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (c), 8 Alfie Barbeary, 7 Guy Pepper, 6 Josh Bayliss, 5 Ross Molony, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Vilikesa Sela, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Ted Hill, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Jaco Coetzee
Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley, Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Hamish Smales
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