Bath began their Premiership season on a positive note with a 27-23 victory over Leicester at Welford Road on Sunday.
It is the first time Bath have won at Welford Road since 2003.
Tries from Semesa Rokoduguni and a Max Clark brace proved too much for Leicester who scored through Manu Tuilagi and Jonny May’s double.
The opening quarter was a cagey affair with no points scored until George Ford’s 21st minute penalty goal gave Leicester a slender 3-0 lead.
The home side extended their lead in the 24th minute. Ben Youngs’ clever chip over the top was well collected by Telusa Veainu who offloaded to Brendon O’Connor who in turn released Tuilagi on the left winger to cruise over the whitewash.
Soon after, Bath hit back with a converted try to cut the deficit to one. Good work from Rhys Priestland freed Banahan up on the left wing who ran fifty metres before passing inside for Clark to dot down.
Bath began to seize control of the game and were rewarded for their dominance when they took the lead for the first time in the match in the 32nd minute. After relentless pressure on the Tigers’ line, Clark had his second when Cook took the ball off the forwards and showed decent distribution skills to put Clark through a gap. Priestland made it two from two with the conversion as the away side took a 14-8 lead.
Just a few minutes later, Bath had their third when Rokoduguni intercepted a feeble George Ford pass to run coast to coast down and dot down. Priestland added the extras as the visitors took a 21-8 lead in to the interval.
Leicester must have got a bullocking at half-time because their defensive effort was noticeably better after the break. However, they were still giving away too many penalties and Priestland extended Bath’s lead to 24-8 after 57 minutes.
But Ford responded with a penalty of his own after opposite number Priestland was guilty of a high tackle. Bath’s fourth high tackle resulted in a yellow card for Kahn Fotuali’i.
Leicester immediately capitalised on their numerical advantage when new signing Jonny May grabbed his first Leicester try after good work from Veainu to release him. But Ford pulled his conversion wide.
Soon after, Bath were reduced to thirteen men when Matt Garvey was sin-binned for yet another high tackle as the home crowd booed vociferously.
May grabbed his brace after persistent Tigers pressure, diving over with a good finish. Ford converted to make it a four-point game at 27-23. Bath incredibly went down to 12 men when Banahan was given an early bath but Fotuali’i soon returned to the field of play to make it 13.
Despite their atrocious discipline which saw three of their players yellow-carded, Bath managed to hold on for a historic win.
The scorers:
For Leicester:
Tries: Tuilagi, May 2
Con: Ford
Pens: Ford 2
For Bath:
Tries: Rokoduguni, Clark 2
Cons: Priestland 3
Pens: Priestland 2
Yellow Cards: Fotuali’i, Garvey, Banahan
Leicester Tigers: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Nick Malouf, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Brendon O’Connor, 6 Dominic Ryan, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Dom Barrow, 3 Logovi’i Mulipola, 2 Tom Youngs (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Greg Bateman, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Mike Williams, 20 Luke Hamilton, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Mathew Tait
Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Max Clark, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Matt Garvey (c), 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Kane Palma-Newport, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 James Phillips, 20 Paul Grant, 21 Kahn Fotuali’i, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Ben Tapuai
Date: Sunday, September 3
Venue: Welford Road
Kick-Off: 15:00 local (14:00 GMT)
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant Referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Simon McConnell
TMO: Graham Hughes
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