Bath end Premiership title drought to deny Leicester legends perfect send-off

Bath 23-21 Leicester Tigers

TWICKENHAM — Bath‘s 29-year wait to be champions of England again is over, with Lions fly-half Finn Russell leading the men from the Rec to a painstaking victory over old rivals Leicester Tigers.

Venerable Leicester and England prop Dan Cole suffered the misery of conceding a crucial penalty with 10 minutes to go, in a very harsh call by referee Karl Dickson, as Bath won their seventh league title, but their first since 1996, and the first under the play-off system rather than first past the post.

Bath finished clear on top of the Premiership at the end of the regular season, so they are deserved winners on either measure, although this all-or-nothing final took a while to catch light.

Mighty tighthead prop Thomas du Toit was Bath’s first-half try scorer as they led 13-7 at the break, with points from the tee including a 50-minute penalty by fly-half Russell, all after scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet dotted down in the sixth minute for Leicester.

Too many passes hit the deck in Bath handling errors, with Joe Cokanasiga and Russell among the culprits.

Handre Pollard, whose world-renowned clutch kicking mostly went to pot in the last two weeks, missed an important penalty from 40 metres, two minutes into the second half.

And Bath’s game-breaking moment came from the irrepressible Russell in the 50th minute.

Leicester were labouring under the suffocating blanket of Bath’s forwards’ defence and as the Tigers fell into ponderous recycling, 15 metres inside the Bath half, Russell brilliantly anticipated a slow pass from Pollard to Ollie Chessum, intercepted it, and raced 50 metres upfield.

Amazingly, Russell didn’t score himself – he was either concerned he might be caught by Leicester full-back Freddie Steward, or simply unselfish even on this grand stage. Instead the 32-year-old Scot lobbed a cool inside pass for centre Max Ojomoh to do the honours: 20-7 to Bath, with Russell’s easy conversion.

Of course it was Finn! ⭐️

Finn Russell picks off a Handré Pollard pass to set up Max Ojomoh! 😱

Follow along on our live blog below! 👇#GallagherPremFinal #GallagherPrem

— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) June 14, 2025

Bath flanker Guy Pepper had a storming try rubbed out for a tiny knock-on by wing Will Muir on 60 minutes.

And Leicester’s retiring heroes Cole and Ben Youngs came off the bench in the second half, to justifiably huge acclaim for two England greats with 100-plus caps.

But poor Cole soon exited his last ever club match to the sin bin when Dickson judged he had unfairly followed through on Russell with his shoulder, in an attempted charge-down.

The resulting penalty kicked by Russell had Bath 23-14 up, with Solomone Kata having scored for Leicester before the Cole offence.

Still, 14-man Leicester kept coming, and replacement forward Emeka Ilione, a star of the future, powered over with Pollard converting: 23-21.

The question then was could Leicester work the knockout king Pollard into position to snatch victory?

An odd choice by Youngs to box-kick gave Muir the chance to make a safe catch and help Bath safely play the last anxious seconds out.

So it was Bath’s day, and season, as their name became the sixth different one on the Premiership trophy in six years, after Saracens, Exeter Chiefs, Harlequins, Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints.

Which speaks to the rich competitivness of the league, if you listen to its proponents, who also want us to call it the “Prem” from now on – although, will that enhance or diminish its place in British sport’s everyday conversations?

The spread of winners may alternatively reflect the difficulty of a sustained effort or standing out from the crowd under the spending restrictions of the salary cap.

The greater interest to the thousands of supporters flocking to Twickenham in Bath’s blue, black and white was the end of their long wait for the domestic crown.

Bruce Craig, the club’s owner for the last 15 of those 29 barren years welcomed the players off the bus at the Twickenham gates, and hugged them in joyous scenes on the pitch at the end.

And despite the six-winners-in-six-seasons statistic, Bath have the potential with the depth of their squad to go again next season and beyond.

They will celebrate loud and long by the Avon, first.