Michael Cheika was given a reminder of the size of the task ahead as his Leicester side paid a heavy price for their mistakes on his first home match in charge. No error was more costly than that of Ollie Hassell-Collins, who dropped the ball over the tryline, on an afternoon when Bath displayed admirable grit for a first win on Tigers turf in four years.
There was plenty of spirit and endeavour from Leicester, a strong set piece and a welcome first appearance of the year for Anthony Watson. They were combative in the first half, buoyed up by their last-gasp win against Exeter last time out but the skill level and execution were lacking as the same problems they had last season resurfaced. Bath, for whom Ollie Lawrence was outstanding, had that extra bit of polish and it told.
It says a lot that one of the biggest cheers of the day came when a squirrel invaded the pitch and it will concern the Leicester hierarchy just how many empty seats were on show. The nearby King Power Stadium was hosting the Women’s Super League match between Leicester and Arsenal. Premiership officials consider women’s football as one of the closest competitors when it comes to attracting eyeballs and on this evidence the Tigers have some work to do to win them back.
“There were back-to-back errors which really hurt us,” Cheika said. “Maybe in the second half we started looking at the scoreboard a little bit, rather than getting after the game. [Ollie] knows what the story is, there’s nothing I’m going to do or say to make a difference. It happens. What I don’t want is players ever saying ‘sorry’, which he tried to do at half‑time – we’re in it together.”
Bath, for their part, were not flawless but with Will Muir and Tom de Glanville registering tries before the impressive Guy Pepper barged over for the decisive score, they were worthy winners as they continue to live up to pre-season expectations. Their outstanding performer was Lawrence,in particular, caught the eye with ball in hand and in defence.
“He was class,” the Bath director of rugby, Johann van Graan, said. “He is playing a big role in our defence and our attacking moments. He is such an important player for us. We created so much and a lot of that has got to do with Ollie.”
Bath began on the front foot, Leicester resisting close-range pressure twice before it was the hosts’ turn to batter at their opponents’ line. Bath, too, held firm, and when Joe Cokanasiga booted the ball clear he was caught late and high by Izaia Perese. Cokanasiga left for a head injury assessment and did not return, Perese was shown a yellow card.
Despite their numerical disadvantage Leicester really ought to have scored the opening try when Hanro Liebenberg put Hassell-Collins away down the left after some neat interplay by the Tigers backs. The former London Irish wing, who has not hit the heights he would have hoped for since arriving at Welford Road, spilt the ball as he went to dot down.
With Olly Cracknell impressing with his fearsome carrying, Leicester did at least open the scoring through a Jamie Shillcock penalty but the first try belonged to Bath after a piercing break from the centre Will Butt. His floated pass to Lawrence was wayward but Butt did superbly well to gather and offload to Muir, who had the pace to get to the corner.
Back came Leicester before the break with Jack van Poortvliet’s weaving break up the middle coming after an errant long kick from Finn Russell. The ball was recycled and Van Poortvliet stepped his way past opposite number, Ben Spencer, and under the posts.
The second half continued in a similar vein. Bath lost Muir with a nasty looking leg injury, forcing the flanker Josh Bayliss on to the left wing, but the visitors pulled level at 10-10 with a lovely strike move from a scrum deep in the Bath 22, finished by De Glanville. Russell missed the conversion to keep the sides level on the scoreboard but Pepper forced his way over from close range before a Spencer penalty gave the visitors breathing space.
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Dan Cole’s close-range score with a minute to go made for a grandstand finish, but there was to be no comeback this time for the Tigers after Kyle Hatherell’s desperate knock‑on from the restart.
