Leicester ease past Bath in semi-final
Dan Hipkiss opened the scoring for Leicester
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Saturday, 09, May 2009 08:32
Leicester have reached the final of the Guinness Premiership with a 24-10 win over Bath at the Walkers Stadium.
The Tigers were far the better side in the first-half and went in 14-0 up at the break with tries from Dan Hipkiss and Sam Vesty. Bath made a spirited comeback and came back into the game with tries from Michael Claassens and Stuart Hooper.
But Heineken Cup finalists Leicester secured their passage into the Guinness Premiership final with a try from England star Lewis Moody.
Bath made a shaky start as Ryan Davis first sent his kick-off straight out of play and then a kick through by Leicester almost resulted in a try-scoring opportunity as the ball bounced awkwardly for Nick Abendanon, but the full-back did well to recover and throw himself on the ball.
A break from Geordan Murphy led to Marcos Ayerza crossing the try-line, but the referee spotted that Murphy had passed the ball forward in the lead-up to the try.
Leicester should have taken the lead when they were awarded a penalty after Abendanon was penalised for taking out Scott Hamilton. But Julien Dupuy missed a simple kick at the posts.
The Tigers made a dominant start to the match and took a deserved lead after good work from the forwards put Leicester close to the Bath try-line and then Hipkiss cut his way through the defence and withheld a tackle from Abendanon to score the try. Dupuy added the extras.
Bath were all over the place and when they lost the ball in the Leicester half, Vesty spotted there was acres of space in the Bath half and kicked the ball through.
Johne Murphy showed great kicking skills to dribble the ball to the try-line, but luckily for Bath, Shontayne Hape managed to ground the ball just before Murphy could get his hands on the ball.
Leicester continued to surge forward and came close to adding further tries on a number of occasions before they finally grabbed a second score two minutes before the break.
The Tigers were awarded a penalty, but instead of kicking for the points, they decided to take a five-metre scrum and their gamble paid off as the exciting Vesty glided through the Bath defence for the try. Dupuy added the conversion to give Leicester a 14-0 lead.
Leicester should have been completely out of sight after the first-half and looked like they could rue their failure to convert their chances as Bath scored a surprise try early in the second-half through Claassens, who dived in from close range.
Bath were now only nine points behind, but that became 12 when they were penalised from coming in from the side into a ruck and Dupuy made them pay by kicking the resulting penalty.
Bath got their hands on the ball more in the second period and after eight phases of play, they worked the ball on to the right-wing where the surprising figure of lock Stuart Hooper took the ball, but he finished like a winger for the try.
A comeback was now on, but Bath were being let down by the kicking of Davis, who missed his third shot at goal.
Tom Croft looked to hit back for Leicester straight away, but just as he was about to dive into the right corner for the try, Hape and Abendanon did brilliantly to knock the ball out of his hands and into touch.
Leicester though secured the win through substitute Lewis Moody, who touched the ball down after getting on the end of a kick through by Johne Murphy on the left-wing. Dupuy added the extra two points to give his side a victorious 14 point lead.