Bath booked a place in the Anglo-Welsh Cup final after they edged Northampton 13-12, who had Teimana Harrison red carded in the game.
England international Harrison received his marching orders in the 67th minute after an altercation with Bath prop Nathan Catt, allowing home fly-half Josh Lewis to kick what turned out to be the match-winning points off the tee.
Bath led 10-9 at the break thanks to a converted Levi Douglas try and a further penalty from pivot Lewis. The try came following Northampton losing the ball at the back of their own ruck and the Bath second-row gleefully put his name on the scoresheet to make it 10-0.
Northampton then clawed their way back into the contest thanks to three Stephen Myler penalties, Lewis given a yellow for the second.
After the break though the scoring dried up at Franklin's Gardens as only a penalty each from Myler and then Lewis made it 13-12, which was how things stayed until the whistle, with Bath comfortably running down the clock in the end against the 14-man Saints in a tense game.
Bath will now tackle the winner of Sunday's Exeter Chiefs and Newcastle Falcons semi-final in a final which will be played at Kingsholm.
The scorers:
For Bath:
Try: Douglas
Con: Lewis
Pens: Lewis 2
Yellow Card: Lewis
For Northampton:
Pens: Myler 4
Red Card: Harrison
Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Darren Atkins, 13 Will Hurrell, 12 James Wilson, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Josh Lewis, 9 Chris Cook, 8 James Phillips, 7 Josh Bayliss, 6 Tom Ellis, 5 Charlie Ewels (c), 4 Levi Douglas, 3 Max Lahiff, 2 Nathan Charles, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Michael van Vuuren, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Paul Grant, 21 Kahn Fotuali’i, 22 Aled Brew, 23 Matt Banahan
Northampton: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Nafi Tuitavake, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Ben Foden (c), 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Heinrich Brüssow, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 David Ribbans, 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Reece Marshall, 1 Campese Ma’afu
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19 Michael Paterson, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Nic Groom, 22 Tom Stephenson, 23 Ken Pisi
Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Wayne Davies (Wales), Gareth John (Wales)
TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)
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