Leicester edged out by Bath in Heineken Cup

Saturday, 01, Apr 2006 08:48

Leicester Tigers were unable to secure victory today as 13-man Bath held on for a 12-15 win in an attritional battle in the Heineken Cup quarter-final today.

Despite a number of high calibre international performers on show, the teams were not able to produce a free-flowing brand of rugby to excite the supporters in a game which was decided by the boot.

Andy Goode, who recently replaced Charlie Hodgson at fly-half in the Six Nations, got Leicester off to a solid start in the opening minutes by hitting a penalty from all of 50 metres.

But Chris Malone of Bath equalised soon after and the kickers continued to trade penalties, scoring two further goals each, to leave the score 9-9 at half-time.

The home side's superior pack started to make inroads into the Bath unit after the break and Goode put Leicester in front early on but Malone scored two further penalties to edge Bath ahead.

With just ten minutes remaining two Bath props, David Flatman and Taufa'ao Filise, were sin-binned for scrummaging offences, to give the Heineken Cup champions in 2001 and 2002 hope of getting into the semi-final.

However, despite dominating possession, a combination of poor Leicester decision making and brave tackling from Bath allowed the west country club to nick victory and secure a place in the last four of the Heineken Cup for the first time since winning the competition eight years ago.

But Bath's coach Brian Ashton told BBC sport: "In terms of the semi-final, we will have to step up our performance or we won't be going any further."