Matt Holt's dramatic late try guaranteed Leeds' Zurich Premiership safety for
another season at the Recreation Ground.
Results around the country would have been enough to keep the Tykes up even if
they had finished 6-3 down at the end of a tense battle but Holt's try five
minutes into added time made sure.
Leeds' players were unaware of other goings on and replacement hooker Holt
made sure when he barged his way over by the posts to complete a smash-and-grab
raid that will leave Bath scratching their heads for weeks to come.
They had dominated the game and led with five minutes to go thanks to a Chris
Malone drop-goal and an Olly Barkley penalty.
But they could not turn their pressure into points and paid for it when Gordon
Ross added a late penalty and then gleefully converted Holt's try.
Never mind relegation and the play-offs - there was enough riding on this game
already as Bath tried to make amends for their woefully flat Powergen Cup
performance against Leeds two weeks earlier.
They were still without injured centre Andrew Higgins and lock Steve
Borthwick, while Mike Tindall's complicated foot injury is taking longer than
expected to heal.
Also out of action were Isaac Feaunati and Matt Stevens, forcing John Connolly
to hand Gareth Delve his first start at number eight since December and bring in
David Barnes at loose-head.
But how much Tykes had left in the tank after their bruising win over
Harlequins in the week was open to question, particularly with Iain Balshaw and
Tom Palmer still sidelined.
The weight of that expectation resulted in a turgid first-half as both sides
struggled to hang on to the ball and promptly kicked away most of their decent
possession.
Only Matt Perry sparkled out wide for Bath, who relied more on the kicking of
Malone and Barkley to work their way downfield despite having most of the
possession.
It took 17 minutes for Bath to create their first chance, the pack ploughing
forward from a lineout and releasing the ball for Malone to stroke over a
straight-forward drop-goal.
Then they had to wait until first-half injury time to score again, with
Barkley drilling a penalty between the posts after Colm Rigney had dived over
the wrong side of a ruck.
Leeds were similarly starved of the ball after the break and started to wilt
as Bath found another gear.
Their best attacking spell of the game ended with Barkley's cross-kick
narrowly eluding wing Frikkie Welsh with the line in his sights.
Leeds were still in bonus point territory but only just after Barkley was well
wide with a 59th minute penalty shot and they needed a brilliant saving tackle
from Tom Biggs on Welsh to keep Bath out going into the final quarter.
Despite their heroics of the last month and on Tuesday night, conceding
another point would have been fatal.
Ross gave Leeds hope with a penalty five minutes from time. It might have been
a vital kick had Barkley not missed a chance of his own in the fifth minute of
injury time.
But they completed the mugging in the fifth minute of injury time with
replacement hooker Holt crashing over under the posts and Ross converting to
spark the celebrations.
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