Madigan puts boot into Bath
Ian Madigan kicked 20 points while Sean Cronin claimed a second-half try that settled a gripping tie at the RDS Showground.
With nothing more than pride to play for, this victory ended Leinster's worst run in the Champions Cup of five successive defeats.
Leroy Houston had earlier crossed to give Bath a glimmer of hope earlier in the second half.
But this defeat, just six days after pushing holders Toulon to the limit in France, ended any hope of progressing to the quarter-finals for a second year in a row.
Madigan and George Ford traded penalties though Leinster centre Garry Ringrose proved the game's most threatening player.
His surge almost saw James Tracy over the line but the hooker was ruled just short.
Madigan kicked two more penalties, the second after Bath lock Dominic Day was binned for obstruction.
Houston thought he had given Bath a foothold following the speed and vision of Jonathan Joseph from a counter-attack but was beaten to the touch-down by the finger-tips of Dave Kearney.
Leinster began the second half at full tilt as Ringrose was twice involved in a length of the field attack that was only halted when Ford hauled down Nacewa five metres from the line.
However Madigan still nudged Leinster 15-3 ahead early in the second half before Houston spear-headed a driving maul to score on 60 minutes.
However Ford missed the conversion and a mistake from the re-start ended with Cronin scurrying over unopposed to settle the tie despite late kicks from Madigan and Rhys Priestland.
The scorers:
For Leinster:
Try: Cronin
Con: Madigan
Pens: Madigan 6
For Bath:
Try: Houston
Pens: Ford, Priestland
Yellow card: Dom Day (Bath, 35)
Teams:
Leinster: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Isa Nacewa (captain), 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Ben Te'o, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jordi Murphy, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Ross Molony, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 James Tracy, 1 Peter Dooley.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Tom Denton, 20 Sean O'Brien, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Johnny Sexton, 23 Noel Reid.
Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Stuart Hooper (captain), 3 David Wilson, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Max Lahiff.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 David Denton, 21 Jonathan Evans, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Tom Homer.
Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)
Assistant referees: Maxime Chalon (France), Jean-Luc Rebollal (France)
TMO: Eric Gonthier (France)
Source: @ChampionsCup
