A committed second half showing helped Leicester gain momentum ahead of their play-off semi-final against Saracens by beating old rivals Bath 28-3 at Welford Road.
After an attritional first half, it took scores from Anthony Allen and Horacio Agulla either side of a penalty try to see the home side to what proved a routine victory in the end.
Richard Cockerill's men scored three tries after the break to entertain the sell-out, 24,000 crowd who had been frustrated by a scrappy performance before the break.
Tigers dominated territory and possession in the first 40, with Geoff Parling carrying strongly throughout, but they could only muster three points through a single Toby Flood penalty.
The home side doubled their led ten minutes into the second half thanks to a Billy Twelvetrees penalty only for the left boot of Olly Barkley to reply in kind for Bath.
Two great breaks from Twelvetrees finally lit up Welford Road and led to Anthony Allen driving over for the first try of the afternoon - and his first of the season.
Twelvetrees, Flood's replacement, added the extras.
Gloucester-bound Twelvetrees was successful with his next penalty attempt and continued to show great touches, but the next score came courtesy of great scrummaging.
Referee Dean Richards had no hesitation in running under the posts to award a penalty try, which Twelvetrees converted for a score of 23-3.
Tom Youngs's storming run laid on a popular score for wing, Horatio Agulla, but Tigers ran out of time to claim what would have been a seventh straight try bonus point.
They now play Saracens on May 12 at Welford Road in the last four in a repeat of last year's final.
The scorers:
For Tigers:
Tries: Agulla, Allen, Penalty
Cons: Twelvetrees 2
Pens: Flood, Twelvetrees 2
For Bath
Pen: Barkley
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (c), 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs,8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 George Skivington, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Logovi'i Mulipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Craig Newby, 20 Calum Green, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Scott Hamilton.
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Matt Banahan, 12 Olly Barkley, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Carl Fearns, 6 Josh Ovens, 5 Ben Skirving, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 David Wilson, 2 Lee Mears, (c) 1 Nathan Catt.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Charlie Beech, 18 Duncan Bell, 19 Will Spencer, 20 Guy Mercer, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Sam Vesty, 23 Kyle Eastmond.
Referee: Dean Richards
Comments
NHsaints says...
Leicester surely have to be favourites to claim the title again...they're on fire of late...
Posted 12:36 06th May 2012