Bath secure home semi-final but Leicester may now have easier route to final

Late drama at a rainy Rec, but Bath held their nerve to dance into a home play-off. The reigning champions will host Exeter Chiefs at the Rec next Saturday after a Thomas du Toit hat-trick just about saw them past Leicester Tigers. Three tries from a tighthead prop; whatever next.

Both sides, missing some key players because of injury, knew that a win of any sort would secure a home play-off next Saturday but Leicester’s failure to go the length with the clock in the red, after a late George Pearson try sent the Rec into a fit of anxiety, means that the Tigers have finished fourth in the table and will travel to Northampton Saints in the other play-off. A Friday night East Midlands derby knockout at Franklin’s Gardens: mouthwatering.

Despite Du Toit’s hat-trick, the Tigers had their chances. At the death, the visitors had one final play for victory, to earn a home play-off of their own. Alas, most of Leicestershire will be questioning the decision of Jack van Poortvliet to kick the ball away as the Tigers launched an attack from their own 22. At the final whistle, the face of Ollie Chessum, Leicester’s captain, was as red as his hair; not just from sheer effort – Chessum was again immense – but with rage.

“We will always back the guys if they see space with an opportunity on,” Leicester head coach Geoff Parling said. “In hindsight, it would have been better to keep the ball in hand but I’ll back the guys to make decisions. We will review them, learn from them, and go from there.

“Both teams delivered a cracker of a game. Five more minutes and maybe it might have been different. East Midlands derby on a Friday night? Let’s get stuck in.”

Despite the loss, Leicester might not mind so much how the final table finished. After a loss at the Rec in which the Tigers did not always have it their own way in the physicality battle, they might fancy their chances at Northampton, whose game relies less on brutishness and more on beauty. Leicester demolished the Saints 41-17 a month ago and although no one could possibly expect a repeat of that scoreline, the bookmakers might give Leicester more of a fighting chance at the Gardens than at the Rec.

Bath were deserved victors in what was a bit of a slugfest, resembling one of those street-fighting, old-school contests in one of the league’s most famous rivalries. The Rec had been pulverised by rain in the hours leading up to kick-off and, as a result, the match was scrappy and scruffy. Every try came from five metres out or less while the departing Du Toit’s tries came from a cumulative five yards. England’s attack coach, Lee Blackett, in the stands at the Rec, must have wondered what he had come to watch at times, as both sides huffed, puffed and blew the house down. That said, the intensity and physicality, in what was an unofficial quarter-final, was at Test level. Neither side gave an inch.

“What a league, what a competition, and great to be here in a home semi-final,” Bath head coach Johann van Graan said. “That’s our third in a row and credit to the players. It was like a Test out there, two exceptional teams, in difficult weather, and we came away with a two-point victory.

“Thomas is an incredible player. From a tighthead perspective – scrum, line-out, maul and his try-scoring ability – incredible but [also] the team-mate, the family man, the husband, father, friend. He represents what the group is about: tough to beat.”

As well as Du Toit’s trio, wing Joe Cokanasiga added another close-range score in the first half. All of Leicester’s tries – Orlando Bailey against his former club, Van Poortvliet and Pearson – came from similar distances. The match was a fitting tribute to Roger Spurrell, the former Bath flanker famed for his grit and durability, who sadly passed away last week aged 71.

Bath host the Chiefs knowing that only one of the past 10 Prem play-offs have been won by the away side; Leicester travel to Northampton in a similar frame of mind but it would take someone of the bravest disposition to bet on either fixture. What a fortnight this league has in store.

Match details

Scoring sequence: 0-5 Bailey try, 0-7 O’Connor con, 5-7 Du Toit try, 10-7 Du Toit try, 12-7 Carreras con, 12-10 O’Connor pen, 17-10 Cokanasiga try, 17-15 Van Poortvliet try, 17-17 O’Connor con, 22-17 Du Toit try, 24-17 Carreras con, 24-22 Pearson try.

Bath: T de Glanville; J Cokanasiga, O Lawrence (C Redpath 63), M Ojomoh, H Arundell; S Carreras, B Spencer; B Obano (F van Wyk 64), K Tuipulotu (D Frost 67), T du Toit (V Sela 75), T Hill, C Ewels (R Molony 69), J Bayliss (E Richards 72), S Underhill, A Barbeary (M Reid 69).
Sin-bin: Cokanasiga 77.

Leicester Tigers: G Pearson; A Radwan, W Wand, O Bailey, G Hamer-Webb (I Perese 60); J O’Connor (S Kata 41), J van Poortvliet; N Smith (A van der Flier 64), J Blamire (C Clare 60), J Heyes (W Hurd 67), C Henderson (G Martin 41), O Chessum, H Liebenberg, T Reffell, O Cracknell (H Watson 54).

Referee: I Tempest.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]