Leicester avenge Bath away-day nightmare by powering to crucial win

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jan/04/leicester-bath-premiership-match-report

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Ever since Leicester were hammered 45-0 at Bath in September this return fixture has been circled on the Tigers’ season planner. Revenge was duly dished out on a cold, murky Midlands afternoon that started poorly for the visitors and never recovered. The cheers from Northampton, who now lead the Aviva Premiership field by six clear points, could almost be heard through the freezing fog.

There was also plenty to ponder for the England head coach, Stuart Lancaster, with the Six Nations championship barely a month away. Kyle Eastmond, among the contenders for the inside-centre berth against Wales in Cardiff, limped off with a worrying-looking calf injury and, despite significant efforts from Dave Attwood and Carl Fearns, few of the international candidates in Bath’s ranks enjoyed their best days with Lancaster and his lieutenant Graham Rowntree looking on.

In that category has to be filed the name of George Ford, whose botched missed conversion of Ross Batty’s last-minute consolation try close to the posts deprived his side of a bonus point, reigniting the debate about his goal-kicking consistency compared with that of Owen Farrell, his England rival. Sam Burgess was also frequently anonymous, his first league start merely highlighting that his union apprenticeship has a way to go. It was clearly unfortunate Eastmond departed prematurely but, with Jonathan Joseph also absent, the creative midfield juices which have energised Bath all season were conspicuously missing.

Nothing, however, should be allowed to detract from a seriously motivated Tigers’ forward effort, with Julian Salvi, Geoff Parling, Fraser Balmain and Tom Youngs all prominent. Bath have been among the country’s form sides yet they finished a clear second at the breakdown where the Tigers displayed a revitalised hunger which bodes well for their 2015 prospects.

“It fires a bullet across the bows of everybody that we’re still in the mix and we’ve still got the appetite to compete,” said Richard Cockerill, the Tigers’ director of rugby, happy enough not to care about mixing his metaphors. “We didn’t talk about the September game much because every time we watched it they looked so good. It was in the back of the players’ minds but we focused on ourselves. I thought we wanted it more than they did.”

The Tigers have also made a conscious decision to get back to what they do best: testing their opponents’ mettle and playing with a physical rattle. The first half was particularly feisty, peppered with niggle, and Eastmond’s departure after 11 minutes revved up Leicester even more, with Tom Youngs finishing off a 12-man rolling maul to register the game’s first try.

Maybe it would have been slightly different had Ollie Devoto’s potential try-creating offload to a lurking Burgess not been adjudged slightly forward and the referee, Matt Cardey, had not pinged the visitors quite so repeatedly. Mike Ford, Bath’s head coach, was careful not to criticise the official but could not entirely disguise his frustration: “We’re the best disciplined team in the competition by a country mile … last week we conceded three penalties, this week we conceded nine or 10 in the first 25 minutes. Is it because we’ve come to Leicester and the crowd are baying for our blood? I’m not sure.”

Ford, who refused to confirm the shortly to be released news that the Welsh fly-half Rhys Priestland is about to join Bath on a two-year-deal, did concede that Leicester deserved their win: “We expected the backlash and we got it, didn’t we?” He also predicted Leicester would “definitely” finish in the top four and be even stronger once their injured contingent are back fully fit.

Cockerill feels similarly, with Dan Cole and Logovi’i Mulipola due back next week and Manu Tuilagi also set to return to action this month. England, clearly, want Tuilagi sooner rather than later but Cockerill says the centre will not be rushed. “By the end of this month Manu will be playing. If that’s in a week’s time, great. But we want to get him right. We want Manu playing in the Six Nations and the World Cup because having Manu in the team gives England the best chance.”

The Tigers now hover on the edge of the top four and look increasingly like their old selves. “The point will be proved when we get to the end of May and someone lifts the trophy,” said Cockerill. “We want to be that team.”

If their forwards can maintain this level of physicality, anything remains possible.

Leicester Tait; Thompstone, Goneva, Allen (Bai, 66), Benjamin; Williams (Burns, 74), B Youngs (capt; Harrison, 71); Ayerza (Rizzo, 72), T Youngs (Ghiraldini, 63), Balmain, Kitchener, Parling, Gibson, Salvi, Crane (Barbieri, 64).

Try T Youngs. Pens Williams 4.

Bath Watson; Agulla (Rokoduguni, 62), Burgess, Eastmond, Banahan; Ford, Cook (Young, 50); James (Auterac, 52), Webber (Batty, 52), Wilson (Thomas, 52), Hooper (capt), Attwood (Day 63), Garvey, Louw, Fearns (Houston, 60).

Try Batty. Pen Ford.

Referee M Carley. Attendance 24,000.