BLACKADDER’S STUNNING PLAN Coach Todd leads Bath to brilliant (but nervy) win
TODD BLACKADDER’S Bath wrecked George Ford’s homecoming party in another bonkers match on the opening weekend of the Premiership.
England fly-half Ford, who returned to Leicester – his first side – in the summer from the West Country, saw Tigers fail to put away a Bath team who were down to 13 in the last 12 minutes.
Bath did a number on Ford, gang-tackling him constantly on their way to their first league win at Welford Road since 2003 – but they were hanging on at the end.
Scrum-half Kahn Fotuali’i saw yellow for a high tackle on Ford after 78 minutes, then skipper Matt Garvey followed him to the bin. By the time Fotuali’i returned to the pitch he passed Matt Banahan coming off after the wing was done for stepping through a ruck but still Leicester could not put the visitors away.
But Blackadder (right) insisted his side – who were leading 27-11 when Fotuali’i was binned only to then concede two tries to Jonny May – nearly shot themselves in the foot.
He said: “It just shows you how much yellow cards hurt you.
“We shouldn’t have put ourselves in that position – we had it under control and we let them back in.
“You can’t afford to even put yourself at risk. When you are away from home and every time you make a legitimate tackle the crowd is into it and you just wonder whether they are looking for things. “But we will take lessons from it – you just can’t afford to do it. But this will give us confidence.” Six tries here made it 50 in six league games, the most in an opening round in history – the record was the 36 scored in 2007. Manu Tuilagi got on the scoresheet in his first appearance since January when he went over in the 24th minute but was off the pace before Bath hit back. Bath centre Max Clark outdid Tuilagi by scoring twice and Ford handed his old club a present when he was intercepted by Semesa Rokoduguni, who ran 80 metres to make it 21-8.
A couple of Rhys Priestland penalties stretched the lead before the last 12 minutes of mayhem played out leaving Leicester frustrated.
Tigers boss Matt O’Connor insisted: “We had enough opportunities to win.
“We gave them a big start and were not good enough to reel them in – we needed to put Bath to the sword in the first half.” Scorers: Leicester: Tries: Tuilagi, May (2); Con: Ford; Pens: Ford (2) Bath: Tries: Clark (2), Rokoduguni; Cons: Priestland (3); Pens: Priestland (2)