When Joe Maddock and Butch James danced along the touchline, exchanging the ball as comfortably as two children might swap Top Trumps cards, to set up Maddock for Bath's third try and a 9-20 lead it seemed as though Bath were so much in control of the match that victory was assured. Butch James converted to give his side a 13 point lead with 24 minutes left and it was really just a case of doing the basics right and keeping things tight.

Unfortunately for Bath they made mistakes at crucial times in the final quarter and this co-incided with Leicester raising their game to such an extejnt that they almost scored four tries. 

Derick Hougaard took a very quick tap penalty on the edge of Bath's twenty-two whilst others were too busy fighting and Leicester almost scored but for Ben Kay running between his intended tackler, Hooper, and referee White. The ensuing scrum saw excellent Bath defence but eventually they were penalised. Newby quickly took the ball in to play and set up Tom Croft's opening score. Amazingly Derick Hougaard missed a simple conversion which meant the Tigers had to score twice.

This was the time, with fourteen minutes remaining, when Bath should have slowed the game down but still they pressed for their fourth try and a bonus point that would have taken them top of the Premiership, one point clear of London Irish. However Leicester kept Bath on the back foot and, with seven minutes to go, Derick Hougaard brought the home side within five points with a drop goal.

Prior to Croft's second try Bath were lucky to escape another home score after a Butch James' kick on the edge of the home twenty-two was charged down and a strong chase by Derick Hougaard was defended by Michael Claassens with Tom Croft almost on hand to touch down.

The killer punch came with three minutes left when Nick Abendanon dropped an easy catch on half-way to set up a Leicester scrum which provided the momentum for Croft's try and victory for the home side.

It all started so well for Bath when they totally controlled the first half, scoring two tries with none against, even though the half-time score of 6-15 didn't reflect the visitor's dominance in almost all aspects of the game. The Bath lineout wasn't at it's best but perhaps that came from their very attacking approach, with the ball thrown long almost every time.

Bath were pinged at a scrum after two minutes and conceded an early penalty but this error was soon rectified after six minutes when Stuart Hooper scored the game's opening try. From a Bath scrum Butch James ran at the defence like a forward and set up the platform from which Hooper was able to crash over the goal-line.

Derick Hougaard should have made the score 6-7 a few minutes later, after Scaysbrook was penalised for being offside, but amazingly the South African hit the Bath post from a very kickable position.

Alex Crockett thought he'd scored Bath's second try after 17 minutes but Shontayne Hape tipped the ball with his finger as he tried to grab the ball ahead of the Bath skipper. Hape should have scored and will probably rue this basic error all the way home.

Halfway through the first half Leicester woke up and pounded the visitor's goal-line. On one occasion the ball was passed through 16 phases before they failed to keep control and the Bath defence showed strength and commitment so common throughout this season.

Had it not been for the superb interplay between James and Maddock the moment of the match would have been an amazing reverse kick from James that threw the Leicester defence in to confusion and forced Geordan Murphy to hold the ball for too long. From the penalty lineout Hooper grabbed the ball and fed Pieter Dixon who rumbled over the goal-line to score.

Nick Abendanon had a poor game, amongst so many stars for Bath, and was too easily rolled over after catching the ball at the restart after the Bath score. This error forced a penalty to Leicester that Hougaard slotted home to reduce their deficit. A touchline penalty from James made the half-time score 6-15.

For the vast majority of this match Butch James was amazing, showing the sort of silky skills to make anyone watching drool with delight. However he should have tightened up the game at the end so Leicester didn't have quite so many opportunities to snatch victory and, for me, this just takes the shine of his Man of the Match performance.

We've won a few games this year at the death so perhaps it's only right that we suffer in this way: but at Welford Road? Nooooo!!!! Uncontested scrums didn't help our cause. I thought Andy Beattie had a tremendous game, he was everywhere!

Referee: Chris White

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