[ad_1]
| Leicester: (28) 35 |
| Tries: Rogerson, Brown, Cronin, Martin, Penalty Cons: Pollard 4 |
| Bath: (10) 22 |
| Tries: Schreuder, Hennessey, Richards Cons: Bailey, Harris Pen: Bailey |
Leicester ended 2023 with victory against a much-changed Bath side who could have gone top of the Premiership.
Matt Rogerson, Mike Brown, James Cronin and George Martin tries raced Tigers to a bonus point before half-time, as Louis Schreuder and Orlando Bailey put Bath on the board.
A penalty try stretched the Tigers’ lead to 25 points before late scores from Louie Hennessey and Ewan Richards.
The win moves Leicester above Bristol into seventh, while Bath stay fourth.
With almost 26,000 fans inside a sold-out Welford Road, the match rounded off a weekend which saw Northampton Saints climb above Bath to the top of a congested table.
Just three points separate Saints and sixth-placed Harlequins, with Bath two points behind the leaders.
While Bath came into the game unbeaten through December, Johann van Graan rotated his side and rested the majority of his first-choice starters.
Only three players from the win against Harlequins last weekend were in the starting XV, but the visitors got off to the perfect start, when Schreuder scored his first try of the campaign.
The scrum-half intercepted an attempted pass from Handre Pollard to sprint over from his own half, but for the rest of the half it was one-way traffic.
Leicester dominated both possession and the breakdown and eventually made it pay after winning the first turnover, to gain territory with a five-metre line-out. The maul drove forward and Rogerson stretched over for his first Premiership try for the club.
Full-back Brown, starting on the wing for the first time in his Premiership career, ran over in the corner to make it 14-7 and the floodgates stayed open as the penalty count gifted Leicester plenty of time in Bath’s 22.
When captain GJ Van Velze was sent to the sin bin for a deliberate knock-on, Cronin scored from the resulting penalty and with a man advantage the Tigers powered straight back into Bath’s half and Martin scored under the posts for their fourth try on 34 minutes.
Bailey slotted a penalty for Bath before the break, but no sooner had they got Van Velze back on the pitch, Jaco Coetzee was shown a yellow card as the second half got under way for pulling down a maul, and Leicester were awarded a penalty try to move 35-10 up.
Bath had more opportunities in Leicester’s 22 during the second half but lacked accuracy as they tried to launch a comeback.
Finn Theobold-Thomas won a turnover five metres out to deny their forward pack and Max Ojomah threw a long ball straight into touch as they broke forward with numbers.
Teenager Hennessey came on to score his first Premiership try late on before Ewan Richards touched down from a maul with the clock in red to add another consolation and soften the scoreline.
Leicester: Steward, Simmons, Kelly, Kata, Brown, Pollard, Whiteley; Cronin, Montoya (c), Heyes, Martin, Chessum, Rogerson, Reffell, Wiese.
Replacements: Theobold-Thomas, Van Wyk, Hurd, Wells, Hatherell, Cracknell, Powell, Shillcock.
Bath: Harris, De Glanville, Ojomoh, Butt, Gallagher, Bailey, Schreuder; Schoeman, Faiva, Stuart, Roux, McNally, Van Velze (c), Cloete, Coetzee.
Replacements: Stewart, Du Toit, Jonker, Richards, Green, Carr-Smith, Hennessey, Owen
Sin bin: GJ Van Velze (30 mins), Jaco Coetzee (44 mins)
Referee: Karl Dickson
