Archive June 14, 2025

Gallagher Premiership final

Bath (13) 23

Tries: Du Toit, Ojomoh Cons: Russell 2 Pens: Russell 3

Leicester (7) 21

Bath held off resilient Leicester Tigers to win their first Premiership title in 29 years with a narrow 23-21 victory at Allianz Stadium Twickenham that also completed a 2024-25 treble.

The tense triumph crowns Bath as champions of England for the seventh time in their history but the first since 1996.

They were the trailblazing team in the league this season and went into the final as overwhelming favourites after finishing 11 points clear at the top of the table.

Bath captain Ben Spencer said he “couldn’t be prouder” of the team.

“What an effort – we had to dig deep, fair play to Leicester but I think we deserved it after the year we’ve had,” Spencer said.

Jack van Poortvliet gave Leicester an early lead but Thomas du Toit’s try and another from Max Ojomoh – created by Finn Russell’s show-stopping interception – pushed Bath 13 points ahead.

Solomone Kata pulled back a crucial try for the Tigers but when departing Leicester legend Dan Cole was sent to the sin-bin with 11 minutes to go, Russell slotted a second penalty.

Bath also become the first English team since opponents Leicester in 2001 to seal a treble, after winning the Premiership Rugby Cup and the European Challenge Cup earlier this season.

Leicester captain Julian Montoya, who is among a host of players leaving the club this summer, said it was an “honour” to be a Tiger.

The final was billed as a revival of the rivalry between two giants of English rugby.

The pair won 12 of the first 15 Premiership titles under the league’s previous format and finished as the top two in each of 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2000.

Despite their underdog status, Leicester started more than up for the fight, owning possession in the opening minutes, winning two scrums and the first penalty, allowing Handre Pollard to kick to the corner.

Their pack mauled forward from a line-out and an opportunist Van Poortvliet saw a gap to sneak in.

Russell eased Bath nerves with a penalty but neither side could get into their flow in the midst of a stuttering start.

Bath eventually ramped up the pressure, probing Leicester’s line from the left then right as their forwards picked up the mantle and Du Toit surged over.

And when Leicester skipper Julian Montoya was shown a yellow for a high tackle on Ted Hill his side were forced into defensive mode to see out the half.

Leicester have a host of players departing the club this summer including Pollard, who missed a penalty and then saw a pass intercepted by a surging Russell, who sprinted clear when Leicester were enjoying a spell with the ball.

With Ojomoh keeping pace with the Scot on the break, Russell spun a looping pass for his team-mate to dive under the posts.

Guy Pepper’s brilliant strength to shake off two tacklers and touch down in the corner almost stretched Bath’s lead further only for the score to be scratched for a knock-on by Will Muir.

Tigers seemed spurred on by the let-off and Kata pulled them back into it from close range.

There was still time for more twists as, minutes after coming on for his final appearance before retirement, Cole was sent to the bin for a charging tackle on Russell whose subsequent penalty made it 23-14.

Leicester would not lie down though and Ilione wrestled his way through the Bath bodies to set up a thrilling finale that Johann van Graan’s side managed to see out.

Premiership glory caps a remarkable transformation for Bath under head of rugby Van Graan, who joined in July 2022 weeks after they finished rock-bottom of the league.

While they have undoubtedly been bolstered by world-class additions to the playing squad, the South African has also changed the culture and instilled belief, while keeping the players on the day-to-day job at hand – “never too high, never too low” being his optimum phrase.

That being said, the drive has been bubbling considerably beneath the surface. The front of Van Graan’s notebook has ‘Hunger – the best is yet to come’ printed on it.

Since finishing runners-up in last season’s final by four points to Northampton, Bath have had the best attack and defence through 2024-25, with the most points scored and fewest conceded. They went top of the table in October and stayed there, securing first place with three rounds remaining.

While Leicester managed to take their ensemble of departing stars to Twickenham for their “last dance”, the final was mostly played to Bath’s tune.

There was no fairytale sign-off for the two most capped men in English history, with scrum-half Ben Youngs and Cole retiring as runners-up.

Captain Montoya did not get the winning swansong he wanted, while two-time World Cup winning South African fly-half Pollard finishes his high-profile three years with Tigers without a piece of silverware.

For Tigers boss Michael Cheika, his one-year flyby stint at the helm of Tigers finishes empty-handed.

As the only head coach to win a top-flight competition in both hemispheres – having guided Leinster to Heineken Cup success in 2009 before then taking Waratahs to the Super Rugby crown in 2014 – his sole aim this season was to restore Tigers to trophy-winning ways.

Getting Tigers to the Grand Final and within one win of a record-extending 12th Premiership title, having finished a disappointing eighth in the table 12 months earlier, will still be seen as success of sorts for a club that demands to maintain its place among England’s elite.

He now hands over to rookie head coach Geoff Parling, a Premiership-winning former Tigers player who inherits a side that now says goodbye to some iconic talents but has nonetheless regained much of its pomp in the past 12 months.

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Ojomoh, Redpath, Muir; Russell, Spencer (c); Obano, Dunn, Du Toit; Roux, Ewels, Hill, Pepper, Reid.

Replacements: Annett, Van Wyk, Stuart, Molony, Bayliss, Carr-Smith, Donoghue, Barbeary.

Leicester: Steward; Radwan, Kata, Woodward, Hassell-Collins; Pollard, Van Poortvliet; Smith, Montoya (c), Heyes; Henderson, Chessum, Liebenberg, Reffell, Cracknell.

Replacements: Clare, Cronin, Cole, Rogerson, Ilione, Youngs, Volavola, Perese.

Sin bin: Montoya (28 mins), Cole (69 mins)

“Surely, we can’t mess this one up?” Shaun Pollock said as the lift at the Lord’s media centre plummeted downwards shortly after stumps on day three.

The fact the former South Africa captain, here on commentary duties, felt even the slightest tinge of nervousness after a day of batting domination offers an insight into the cricket psyche of his country.

That there still was a chance the Proteas – who carried the moniker as professional sport’s biggest chokers – could somehow contrive to make a dog’s dinner of scoring 69 runs to win the World Test Championship (WTC).

Aiden Markram resumed on an unbeaten century but like many of his team-mates, had a restless night at their London hotel pondering how things might pan out.

Even the sleeping tablets he took could not help him switch off.

It’s hard to imagine their opponents, Australia, suffering from the same chronic lack of self-conviction. From this position, they would have peacock-strutted to the line.

Australia’s players saw it as an opportunity, too.

They picked at this particular South Africa scab with their verbal armoury of salty snipes when a tense chase began.

“Whilst we were batting, we could hear the Aussies using that dreaded word, choke,” South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma told BBC Test Match Special.

“It’s been years since we’ve overcome a final, we’ve been etched in history. Now we’re part of something that has never been done.”

In 18 previous one-day international and T20 World Cups, South Africa’s men’s team have reached a solitary final, having lost 10 of their 12 knockout matches across both competitions.

Strictly speaking, South Africa’s men have won global events before. Although it’s debatable whether you can class them as major.

They lifted the inaugural 1998 ICC Knockout Trophy in Bangladesh – the tournament was later rebranded as the Champions Trophy by the International Cricket Council.

Earlier that same year, South Africa defeated Australia in the final of the Commonwealth Games played in Malaysia.

Although having netted in underground car parks in Kuala Lumpur and been fascinated by the the size of Jonah Lomu’s lunch, perhaps the tournament was approached in a more leisurely fashion.

This was just the third iteration of the WTC, but you only had to witness the number of Saffers who came through the gates at Lord’s, and the tears from Keshav Maharaj afterwards, to sense what going from chokers to champions felt like.

“It would be great to never hear that word [choke] again, that’s for sure,” said Markram, who went to the stands and downed a pint of beer with an old school friend to celebrate.

“To have got the job done and to get rid of that, it’s a big thing for this team.”

Australia’s sledging perhaps masked some of their own struggles as they build towards hosting an Ashes series against England, with captain Pat Cummins hinting changes could be afoot for a forthcoming tour to West Indies.

“We’ve obviously got a team here that got us to the final so it’s about when do we feel it’s the right time to change,” Cummins, 32, said.

When Bavuma walked into the post-match news conference and carefully placed the glittering mace – the prize awarded to the WTC winners – down on the table in front of him, the significance of the moment was not lost.

It is more than three decades since South Africa’s cricketers were readmitted to the international fold following the sporting boycotts established by the Gleneagles Agreement.

Bavuma is South Africa’s first black African batter, first black African to score a Test century, as well as the country’s first black African captain.

He is now the first South African to win a major ICC trophy, and follows in the footsteps of Siya Kolisi, South Africa’s black double World Cup-winning rugby union captain, in breaking barriers.

Bavuma spoke in depth in an interview with BBC Sport before the WTC about South Africa’s post-apartheid era of sporting transformation.

He is a humble and quietly spoken leader in the dressing room, dovetailing with the subtle acumen of head coach Shukri Conrad.

In many ways Bavuma embodies a group of South African players who might lack some of the stardust of previous teams but showed here they have character, depth and unity.

With a beaming smile in the aftermath of this victory at Lord’s, the joy on Bavuma’s face was clear.

“It’s a chance for South Africa to be united. We’ve got a cause where we can put aside our differences and enjoy it,” Bavuma added.

“We are unique in a lot of ways, our present and future is shaped by our past. It is a chance for us to rejoice in something, forget our issues and come together.”

South Africa may be World Test champions but have no home men’s matches in the longer format scheduled for 2025-26.

Markram said its primacy in the country should never be questioned.

“It’s always been my most important and most favourite format. Naturally, playing fewer games is not really on us, it’s just sort of the cards you get dealt,” he said.