Unstoppable Bath secure top spot after resounding win against Leicester

Telegraph

17-05-2025

Bath 43 Leicester 15
This was as close to a perfect day as Bath could have wished for. Top spot secured, everyone seemingly through in one piece for Friday's Challenge Cup final and the cherry on top in a resounding seven-try victory was a score from Tom Dunn, Bath's appearance record setter.
And it was not just a close-range rumble from the back of a maul either. Instead it featured an X-rated dummy that sent poor Freddie Steward halfway towards Chippenham. It was the type of try that should bring instant dismissal from the front-row union, but each replay was cheered uproariously by a sell-out crowd on the occasion of the hooker's 184th Premiership appearance.
✅ Most appearances for Bath
✅ Dummy try
Could Tom Dunn make this day any more special?! #GallagherPrem | #BATvLEI pic.twitter.com/5wZTg5rXjB
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) May 17, 2025
It also broke Leicester's dogged resistance. With Newcastle to come at home in the final round of matches, they are still heavy favourites to secure the second home semi-final but on this evidence they would pose little threat to Bath in a potential rematch in the final.
While the first half was highly competitive, Bath squeezed Leicester like a boa constrictor in the second. Tigers simply had no breath left in them after absorbing wave after wave of brutal attack and were hit by two late sucker punches from Joe Cokanasiga and Will Butt.
The scary thing for the rest of the Premiership was that Bath were far from firing on all cylinders, even if their back row of Ted Hill, Sam Underhill and Alfie Barbeary were in barbarous form. They must now be odds-on to complete a treble having already secured the Premiership Cup.
There were so many fascinating head-to-head battles, perhaps none more entertaining than the battle of the back-up England scrum-halves between Ben Spencer and Jack van Poortvliet. First blood went to Spencer, who might not be renowned for his sniping ability but is never afraid to attack a gap when it presents itself. Such an opening appeared when Sam Underhill fed him line-out ball off the top and the Leicester line-out disintegrated, allowing Spencer to outpace Ollie Hassell-Collins to reach the corner.
Give Ben Spencer an inch and he'll take a mile 💨
The Bath captain sees the gap, makes the dummy and sends it home for a try 👏 #GallagherPrem | #BATvLEI pic.twitter.com/jM1GqpMqUh
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) May 17, 2025
After Handre Pollard knocked over a penalty, Ollie Chessum was sent to the sin-bin for making head contact with Will Muir – and the Lions lock might have been lucky to have escaped worse punishment. But even with a man down, Leicester continued to probe and were making slow if steady progress through their close-range carrying game in the Bath 22 when Van Poortvliet pulled the trigger with a cross-field kick. While the chip was perfectly weighted, there was still a lot of work for Joseph Woodward, who claimed the ball above Will Butt's head before twisting past Will Muir and Alfie Barbeary to score.
Bath hit back almost straight away through Obano from close range after a wave of powerful carries, notably by Joe Cokanasiga, brought them to within range. However, like Leicester, they would lose a man to the sin-bin after hooker Tom Dunn made contact with the head of Hanro Liebenberg.
Leicester almost immediately took advantage. Again they pulled in Bath's defenders with their power game before spreading the play. This time it was full-back Freddie Steward who added the width with a long looping pass to Radwan, who took his record to nine tries in nine games. Despite the howls of protest for a forward pass, the try stood.
Steward ➡️ Radwan ➡️ Try
Steward picks out Radwan, who flies over the try-line to give Tigers the lead! #GallagherPrem | #BATvLEI pic.twitter.com/6IdLf7IFjE
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) May 17, 2025
Radwan very nearly had a second, capitalising upon Liebenberg's intercept of Russell's pass, but although he outpaced Muir, Hill showed an amazing turn of speed to pull off one of the try savers of the season on pretty much the fastest player in the Premiership.
Hill has some engine. Moments later, he was racing down the left touchline after Leicester conceded a turnover in midfield. Russell changed the direction of attack and, while he came close to another intercept, this time the risk was worth it as Roux went under the posts.
Russell produced an even better piece with an offload out of the tackle but that was upstaged by Dunn's outrageous dummy. Perhaps with one eye on the final against Lyon, Bath went into cruise control after that but there was still time for Ojomoh to intercept Ben Youngs before quickly deciding that Cokanasiga was the faster option. A final flourish was added by Butt with a try in the corner that will act as an exclamation mark to the rest of the Premiership.
Match details
Scoring sequence: 5-0, Spencer try; 5-3, Pollard penalty; 5-8, Woodward try; 10-8, Obano try; 12-8, Russell con; 12-13, Radwan try; 12-15, Pollard con; 17-15, Roux try; 19-15, Russell con; 24-15, Dunn try; 29-15, Stuart try; 31-15, Russell con; 36-15, Cokanasiga try; 38-15, Russell con; 43-15, Butt try.
Bath: C Donoghue; J Cokanasiga, C Redpath (M Ojomoh, 47), W Butt, W Muir; F Russell, B Spencer (T Carr-Smith, 65); B Obano (F van Wyk, 55), T Dunn (N Annett, 65), T Du Toit (W Stuart, 50, Q Roux (R Molony, 56), C Ewels (G Pepper, 56), T Hill, S Underhill (N Annett, 30-39), A Barbeary (A Green, 65).
Sin-bin: Dunn 29-39.
Leicester: F Steward; A Radwan (J Shillcock, 41-45), S Kata (J Shillcock, 65), J Woodward (D Kelly, 53), O Hassell-Collins; H Pollard, J van Poortvliet (B Youngs, 50); N Smith (J Cronin, 62), J Montoya (C Clare, 69), J Heyes (W Hurd, 65), C Henderson, O Chessum, H Liebenberg, T Reffell (M Rogerson, 65), O Cracknell (E Ilione, 54)
Sin-bin: Chessum 11-21.