Premiership: Bath 20-24 Leicester Tigers - Leaders end 11-year losing run at The Rec

Freddie Burns converted his own try to score a crucial winner for Leicester

League leaders Leicester ended an 11-year losing streak at The Recreation Ground with a narrow win over spirited bottom-of-the-table side Bath.

Jasper Wiese gave Leicester an early lead but Will Muir quickly replied for the hosts.

Richard Wigglesworth put the Tigers ahead but Max Ojomoh and Josh Bayliss gave Bath a 20-14 interval lead.

However, a Freddie Burns try and Bryce Hegarty penalty sealed Leicester's first win in Bath since 2011.

It was a match featuring the teams at opposite ends of the Premiership, with Leicester coming into the match eight points clear at the top and 13th-placed Bath seven points adrift at the bottom.

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The visitors took an expected early lead through Wiese, who went over at close range as the ball was moved out wide from an attacking line-out.

Muir raced over in the left corner, touching down a kick in-behind from Ben Spencer, to get Bath on the scoreboard not long after.

But their defensive frailties were exposed when Guy Porter cut through the middle, setting up Wigglesworth to score under the posts and push the Tigers further ahead.

The Rec has proved a difficult ground for Leicester, with their previous win there coming way back in March 2011, while they had lost their two most recent matches on the road, at Sale and Wasps.

Bath lost try-scorer Muir to the bin for a challenge in the air, although the hosts survived the 10 minutes without conceding a point and managed to add three themselves through a Bailey penalty.

Ojomoh expertly collected a chip over the top from Jonathan Joseph to give the hosts the lead for the first time and Bayliss then produced the try of the match, seconds after coming on, as he danced past tacklers down the wing.

But Bath have only won twice this season and Leicester piled on the pressure after the break, dominating possession and territory.

Bath-born Burns, who spent three years at the club, eventually made it count, throwing a dummy pass with numbers on the outside to race over before converting to give Tigers a one-point lead.

Hegarty added a penalty and while Bath repeatedly found themselves in touching distance of the Leicester try-line, the visitors' forwards proved superior in the maul and scrum and were able to deny them any second-half points.

Bath head coach Neal Hatley told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We put ourselves in a good position to win it but then we probably just creaked a little bit at the set-piece towards the final 20 minutes.

"But the boys out wide in those positions were absolutely outstanding. Leicester are the top team in the country by a long way at the moment, so to be up with a few minutes left and to lose that 24-20 is disappointing.

"Those first 10, 15 minutes they were very good. We struggled to get into the game. Then we started to find a little bit of rhythm, we started to get around the corner and we were much better in collisions.

"When we got the ball we kept hold of it better, starting with the kick that Ben Spencer put through for Will Muir. We were good value for the lead and just disappointed with how it finished."

Leicester head coach Steve Borthwick told BBC Radio Leicester:

"We started the game really well and then there was a tough spell. Bath have really good half-backs and there was some magic in that back line and a tough forward pack that work really hard.

"That second quarter of the game they put us under enormous pressure. What really pleased me was the second half.

"We made a few mistakes in the first half but none of that was the determining factor. The message at half-time was we tweaked the plan in a couple of areas, but not much - the players were the ones that said we should make this change.

"The wind was certainly a factor in that first half which clearly put us under a bit of pressure, but the players coped with that really well."

Bath: De Glanville; Butt, Joseph, Ojomoh, Muir; Bailey, B Spencer; Morozov, Du Toit, Rae, De Carpentier, McNally (capt), Faletau, Coetzee, Hughes.

Replacements: Doughty, Cordwell, Verden, Bayliss, Dingley, Simpson, Clark, Cipriani.

Sin-bin: Muir (17).

Leicester: Hegarty; Potter, Porter, Kelly, Nadolo; Burns, Wigglesworth (capt); Van Wyk, Montoya, Heyes, Wells, Snyman, Martin, Reffell, Wiese.

Replacements: Clare, Whitcombe, Hurd, Green, Leibenberg, van Poortvliet, Scott, Ashton.

Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU).

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