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23 mins. The Tigers finally show some of their attacking shape with Pollard spurning the chance to kick from his own half and instead feeding Hassell-Collins who gets them moving forward. There’s a lot of zip and as they move the ball right and then back left but again the ball spills forward.
Everyone looks shattered already, as the heat of the day belts down upon them.
20 mins. Leicester spring from the resulting scrum, with Kata and Cracknell having good runs. This is instanty ruined by van Poortliet whomping the ball out on the full which hands a lineout to Bath back on halfway.
It’s then Russell’s turn to knock it on when it looked easier to catch the ball. I make that five handling errors from Bath, most of which were not under any pressure really.
17 mins. We're approaching the end of the first quarther of the match and it’s been very bits and pieces so far with neither side showing any clear patterns of possession. Yet as I type this Bath have worked up to double figures of phases in the Leicester half.
Everyone is getting their hands on the ball but it looks a little lateral until Russell drops a shoulder, steps inside and offloads to Cokanasiga in midfield who has open pasture to the line if only he can hold onto the ball; which he doesn’t. Gah!
14 mins. A worrying early pattern of poor discipline is settling in from Leicester, the latest of which has Russell putting the ball into touch is the 22 from a penalty. It’s a promising attacking position but Bath are again imprecise with their handling, this time Ojomoh bouncing the ball off his fingers in midfield. We’ll have another Tigers scrum, this one on midway inside their own half.
11 mins. There’s a heart in mouth moment for Beno Obano, who was sent off in last year’s final, as his shoulder makes contact with a Tigers player’s head in the tackle. However, it’s very clear he was bent at the waist and so was the ball carrier and so the TMO correctly rules no foul play.
PENALTY! Bath 3 - 7 Leicester (Finn Russell)
9 mins. Tommy Reffell tries a trademark ball snaffle at the ruck and while he gets his hands on, it is clear he placed them on the floor before doing so and is rightly penalised. Russell wastes no time in getting his side off nil.
7 mins. It’s very early in the match, of course, but Johan Van Graan will be very concerned with how easily his side have been bullied so far.
TRY! Bath 0 - 7 Leicester (Jack Van Poortvliet)
5 mins. Montoya hits his jumper in the lineout from which a maul of troublesome portent forms that allows van Poortvliet to break off and force over the line from inches.
Pollard converts. A belting start for the Tigers.
4 mins. Leicester win said scrum and there’s another one a minute later after more poor Batch handling. This second one brings down the full malevolence of the Tigers pack to crumble the Bath eight and bring about a penalty. Pollard pings a beautiful touchfinder deep into attacking territory.
2 mins. The crafty kick off is very nearly gathered by Cracknell, but the ball ends up pinging about a bit before Spencer gets his hands on it and punts it away. There’s a few carries by Leicester in their own half before a knock-on brings about the first scrum of the match.
Kick-off!
A short kick off is floated up by Pollard to mix it up right from the start.
Eurovision mitherer Sam Ryder has entered the fray with what looks like an Ibanez DT-100 to my eyes and ripped through a screaming national anthem on said guitar. Imagine that famous Jimi Hendrix anthem rendition but if he was from Braintree and didn’t take drugs.
It’s a glorious day in south west London to welcome the capacity crowd to the stands in Twickenham. There are flags being waved on the pitched and we’re minutes away from the teams making an appearance.
This is final game for Leicester’s Dan Cole and Ben Youngs, bringing to an end two outstanding domestic and international careers. They’ve already had one eye on the post playing days, however, with the groundbreaking idea of launching a podcast – and pretty descent it is to, in fairness to them.
Pre match reading
Read the story behind Bath’s last win
And what has motivated globetrotting Christian Wade to make his next stop in the erstwhile Lancashire coalfield
This is last domestic outing for these players before the Lions tour, you can let me know your thoughts on that, the match or anything else on the email.
Teams
Johann Van Graan rewards Miles Reid with a starting spot at No. 8 after his second half impact played a huge role in the defeat of Bristol, Alfie Barbeary moves to the bench. Elsewhere in the pack Thomas du Toit swaps with the bench bound Will Stuart at tighthead. Finn Russell has recovered from the knee injury that saw him limping off last week to start at stand-off.
Leicester are as you were from their win over Sale in the semis.
Bath Rugby: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Max Ojomoh, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (c); 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Guy Pepper, 8 Miles Reid,
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Ciaran Donoghue, 23 Alfie Barbeary
Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Solomone Kata, 12 Joseph Woodward, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 Nicky Smith, 2 Julián Montoya (c), 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Cameron Henderson, 5 Ollie Chessum, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Tommy Reffell, 8 Olly Cracknell
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Cronin, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Matt Rogerson, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Ben Volavola, 23 Izaia Perese
Preamble
What were you up to in the mid 90s? This correspondent was doing what was expected of a white, northern, elder teenager of the time; tending to my hair curtains, grappling with the new concept called ‘alcopops’, having loud singalongs to a certain guitar band and noting what a shambles the once dominant Conservative party now appeared to be.
Alongside this, anybody paying attention to rugby union football will have become bored of Bath and Leicester’s apparent sharing protocol for all the major trophies of the previous decade: “to me, to you”, as some other cultural behemoths of the time would say.
Sound familiar? Well it should given much of the above list is happening again this very summer, including a rematch between the Gallaghers and a season decider between the historic rivals in English domestic rugby. Bath haven’t won the big one since 1996 after professionalism derailed their dominance, leaving them to gaze jealously from afar at Leicester’s late 90s and early 2000s imperial phase.
The form of the whole season points to a cathartic win for the team from the west country, but don’t rule out the Tigers’ pedigree and coach Michael Cheika’s moxie and wit on the big stage.
What’s The Story (Morning Glory)? There will be a few thumping heads tomorrow and soon find out which set of players will have the far preferable celebratory version of a hangover.
