Joy for ex-Munster coach Van Graan as Bath complete treble
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 Thomas Du Toit and Max Ojomoh, plus 13 points from the boot of Finn Russel,l 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 20-7 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.
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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 number 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 sin bin.
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 Johaan van Graan.
Just three years ago they finished bottom of the Premiership.
After missing out in the final to Northampton in an agonising 25-21 defeat in last year's final, nearly three decades of hurt have come to an end.
– © AFP 2025
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RTÉ News
13 hours ago
- RTÉ News
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The 42
2 days ago
- The 42
How days as a Leicester Tiger helped shape Ireland coach Scott Bemand
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We're here to get the best performances out there, we're here to perform, and we want to come out with an experience that the players go, 'that was unbelievable'. We want them to have a good experience doing this, so if we can get those two bits right, hopefully the noise on the outside can stay on the outside.'
Irish Times
2 days ago
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‘Babies get big': Andrew Porter reflects on Lions sacrifices before second Test
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