Springbok prop helps Johann van Graan's Bath secure treble

MATCH REPORT: Bath became champions of England for the first time since 1996 with a dramatic 23-21 Premiership Final victory over Leicester in baking conditions at Twickenham on Saturday.

Victory completed a treble for Bath after lifting the Premiership Rugby Cup and European Challenge Cup and rounded off a dominant season in which they finished runaway leaders in the Premiership table.

Tries from Springbok prop Thomas Du Toit and Max Ojomoh plus 13 points from the boot of Finn Russell edged Bath over the line despite a spirited fightback from the Tigers.

Leicester outscored their opponents by three tries to two but left themselves a mountain to climb at 7-20 down with just over 10 minutes to go.

Despite a 29-year wait to become champions, Bath were strong favourites after finishing 11 points clear of second-placed Leicester in the table and winning 43-15 when the two sides met just four weeks ago.

However, nerves got the better of the west country side early on and Leicester took advantage to score first when Jack van Poortvliet touched down after a driving maul carried the Tigers towards the Bath line.

Russell was wayward from the tee in his last visit to Twickenham which cost Scotland the Calcutta Cup against England in the Six Nations back in February.

But the mercurial No.10 was back to his best before jetting off to join the British and Irish Lions tour.

Russell immediately reduced the arrears with a penalty before Du Toit barrelled his way over to give Bath the lead.

Another Russell penalty with the last kick of the first half was scant reward for Bath’s dominance as Leicester survived unscathed from Julian Montoya’s 10 minutes in the sinbin.

A moment of magic from Russell proved to be decisive when he intercepted Handre Pollard’s pass midway inside his own half and galloped within sight of the line before flinging the ball inside for Ojomah to walk in between the posts.

Guy Pepper had another score for Bath ruled out by a video review for a knock-on as they threatened to run riot.

Instead, they were made to survive a nerve-shredding few seconds after an unlikely Leicester fightback.

Solomone Kata touched down and Pollard converted to reduce the deficit to six.

Another Russell penalty edged out Bath’s advantage once more before remarkable strength from Emeka Ilione to cross the line and a Pollard conversion cut the gap to two points.

Bath, though, held out to cap a remarkable return to the top of the English game for a sleeping giant under South African coach Johann van Graan.

Just three years ago they finished bottom of the Premiership.

After missing out in the final to Northampton in an agonising 21-25 defeat in last year’s Final, nearly three decades of hurt have come to an end.

The scorers:

For Bath:
Tries: Du Toit, Ojomoh
Cons: Russell 2
Pens: Russell 3

For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Van Poortvliet, Kata, Ilione
Cons: Pollard 3

Yellow cards: Julian Montoya (Leicester, 29′ – foul play, high tackle); Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers; 70′ – foul play, late charge

Teams:

Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Max Ojomoh, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (captain), 8 Miles Reid, 7 Guy Pepper, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano.
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ross Moloney, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Ciaran Donoghue, 23 Alfie Barbeary

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Solomone Kata, 12 Joseph Woodward, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Cronin, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Matt Rogerson, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Ben Volavola, 23 Izaia Perese.

Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Luke Pearce and Adam Leal
TMO: Ian Tempest