Premiership: Leicester Tigers 48-27 Bath - Tigers move into play-off spot with six-try win

Julian Montoya's brace moved the Leicester captain onto six tries for the season

Leicester moved back into the play-off places with a six-try home Premiership win over bottom side Bath.

Matt Gallagher scored early for Bath, but Harry Potter, Handre Pollard and Julian Montoya replied as the visitors had two players sin-binned.

Ben Spencer's fine try cut the gap before Hanro Liebenberg replied to ensure a bonus point before half-time.

Josh McNally got a third for Bath, but Montoya removed any doubt with his second try before a Harry Wells score.

Fergus Lee-Warner smashed his way over the Tigers line with four minutes left to earn Bath a try-scoring bonus point, but they remain bottom of the table while Leicester move up to third.

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After an opening 10 minutes dominated by kicking, Bath opened the scoring after their first real spell of possession as Gallagher snuck in at the left corner.

But six minutes later Potter got on the end of a long Pollard pass to go over after pressure on the Bath line.

Leicester began to turn the screw and Bath struggled to cope as they repeatedly conceded penalties on their line - Tom Dunn sin-binned after 20 minutes following more pressure before Pollard found space to go over.

Josh McNally was also yellow-carded for an infringement in the build-up to Pollard's try, and with Bath down to 13 men Montoya eased over with the visitors unable to cope.

Spencer and Pollard traded penalties before the Bath scrum-half's superb one-handed pick-up allowed him to race down the left wing for a fine opportunist try with his side back to 15.

But Liebenberg forced his way over from close range shortly before the break to give the hosts a 31-13 interval lead.

Bath started the second half well and McNally went over following a close-range line-out, but any celebrations were short-lived as England flanker Sam Underhill was helped off with a neck injury before fellow back-rower Alfie Barbeary, on as a replacement, also departed with what looked like a hamstring problem.

Another Pollard penalty extended the lead as Bath failed to convert a number of good periods of possession.

The visitors were made to pay with 16 minutes left as Mike Brown rolled back the years with a superb break from halfway that saw him tackled five metres from the Bath line, but Tigers recycled the ball well and Montoya battered his way over in the left corner.

Potter had a second try disallowed shortly after following a push by Brown on Niall Annett as he chased down Matt Scott's kick.

But Wells did swiftly add a sixth for Tigers when Scott caught a Charlie Atkinson kick and a couple of passes later Wells was in.

Tigers interim head coach Richard Wigglesworth told BBC Radio Leicester:

"I thought we were really good in patches, particularly in that first half. They got themselves right back into it, but a lot of that was from our very average play.

"We put them under a lot of pressure, which led to 22 entries, which led to yellow cards and we took advantage of the extra man really well. That gave us a good buffer.

"In the middle of that was some stuff that wasn't quite good enough - too many turnovers, too many missed opportunities to get out of our half.

"Then they scored four tries -at Welford Road, so that was pretty disappointing."

Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan:

"We are steadily getting better, we've become tough to beat, I think every team acknowledges that now.

"I felt it wasn't a 48-27 game, I thought it was a lot closer but the scoreboard doesn't lie.

"Leicester are certainly one of the teams I respect the most. I feel where the game got away from us was when we were down to 13 men, to lose your hooker and then your lock.

"Then set-piece wise we lost two crucial line-outs when you've got your hooker off and when you've got a scrum you can't put somebody else on."

Leicester Tigers: Brown; Potter, Scott, Gopperth, Simmons; Pollard, Youngs; West, Montoya (capt), Heyes, Martin, Henderson, Liebenberg, Reffell, Wiese

Replacements: Clare, van Wyk, Hurd, Wells, Cracknell, Whiteley, Atkinson, Porter

Bath: de Glanville; McConnochie, Joseph, Redpath, Gallagher; Bailey, Spencer (capt); Obano, Dunn, Stuart, McNally, van Velze, Lee-Warner, Underhill, Coetzee

Replacements: Annett, Schoeman, Rae, Reid, Barbeary, Schreuder, Ojomoh, Cloete

Referee: Karl Dickson

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