George Ford shines as Leicester battle back to beat Bath in thriller
England star George Ford kicked 21 points against his former club as Leicester overturned a 14-point deficit to beat Bath 36-31 in a thrilling encounter at Welford Road. Bath led 14-0 with two converted tries in the opening 15 minutes but the home pack gradually became the dominant force to earn a deserved victory for the Tigers over their long-standing rivals.
Ford kicked five penalties and converted all three tries scored by Freddie Steward, Harry Wells and Cameron Henderson.
Bath’s tries came from Beno Obano, Ben Spencer and Cameron Redpath, with Rhys Priestland converting two and adding four penalties.
Bath took a third-minute lead when Tigers lost possession at a line-out close to their try-line. From the resulting maul, Josh McNally burst away and when he was hauled down, Obano was on hand to pick up and force his way over.
Priestland converted before his side received an injury blow when Taulupe Faletau was withdrawn for a head injury assessment.
Bath should have suffered another setback but Ford was unable to put the home side on the scoreboard by missing with a straightforward penalty attempt.
Leicester number eight Jasper Wiese was sin-binned for a head-high tackle on Anthony Watson and almost immediately the visitors capitalised by scoring a second try.
A powerful burst from Zach Mercer put the defence on the back foot before Spencer raced away from inside his own half to chip over a defender and then win the race to touchdown for a superb individual score.
Faletau returned in time to see his side concede a number of penalties in quick succession for Ford to succeed with two to bring Leicester back into contention.
Bath continued to struggle with the power of international props Dan Cole and Ellis Genge in the scrum and it was Genge who set up Tigers’ first try with a strong run. He scattered a number of defenders and when the ball was recycled, a well-timed pass from Ford sent Steward over.
Former Bath fly-half Ford converted before he and Priestland exchanged penalties to give the away side a 17-16 interval lead.
Within two minutes of the restart, Tigers took the lead for the first time. Ford hoisted a bomb for Steward to jump above Watson and secure possession before clever play from Nemani Nadolo gave Wells the opportunity to force his way over.
Ford converted from the touchline before he kicked a penalty to increase Leicester’s advantage, but Priestland landed three penalties to level the scores at 26-26 with 17 minutes remaining.
However, Leicester’s pack were in the ascendancy and replacement Henderson forced his way over from close range for the decisive score.
Ford’s conversion and his fifth penalty secured the spoils but a late try from Redpath earned Bath a merited bonus point.
Comments on RugbyPass
Fellas a balloon
3 Go to commentsBlues B team on display and made no race of it. By far the best team in SR with the Hurricanes barely getting past the winning post. Up the Blues 💙
5 Go to commentsWould be amazing to have Servette Genève reaching this level
3 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can't buy a win this season. Surely Penney's contract won't be renewed. There's still enough talent in the squad that they oughta be winning more.
1 Go to commentsABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
1 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
5 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to commentsOne tough SOB!
16 Go to commentsI’ve put on 4/5 kilos since the beginning of the season too. Not good kilos. Bad kilos.
5 Go to commentsSurely there’s a ‘no knobheads’ policy ?
3 Go to commentsWallaroos have no chance of beating the Black Ferns unless Canada upsets them in Christchurch tomorrow but I doubt that as well!
1 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Could the victim do a course to reverse the long term CTE damage from the cheapshot?
2 Go to commentsTruely great player. In social media and opinion pieces he was held up and flogged for the results. People wanted someone to crucify, and he was the captain. He was still an immense presence respected by his peers. His battles with Siya Kolisi belong up with with Collins vs Burger in my opinion. Unlucky to be carded in the final, but I don’t agree that his red card was the defining moment. Not when you look at the dominant performances of the Springboks (PSDT in particular.) I think Cane should be remembered for the spirit and physicality that is special to test rugby.
16 Go to commentsSam was the man until he got injured .
16 Go to comments_Crusaders versus Leinster _at the moment might be a rout! But I would like to see the Blues play Toulouse, the Hurricanes front up against Stade Francais, and the Chiefs go against Toulon.
157 Go to commentsLove it when we overlap! Promise it was not forethought.
19 Go to commentsjfc can this guy plz stay out of the news for one week
3 Go to commentsIf stormers aren’t available. Based on form and likely availability at the time of the wales Test, you’d think Masuku would be a no-brainer to start. But starting Jordan also makes sense having Masuku come off the bench to close out the game.
2 Go to comments