‘Juggernauts’ Bath and Leicester rekindle rivalry in final

Premiership Rugby final – Bath v Leicester

“Two big juggernauts going against each other” is how Leicester Tigers historian Stuart Farmer describes Saturday’s Premiership final against Bath.

The two giants of English rugby won 12 of the first 15 Premiership titles between them under the league’s previous format, before the play-offs were introduced.

In total they have carried off 17 titles – 11 for Leicester, six for Bath – and during the 1990s the clubs were consistently trading blows as Bath’s dynasty under head coach Jack Rowell reached its peak and Leicester’s era of dominance at the turn of the millennium emerged.

Between 1994 and 2000 they occupied the top two places in the table four times, with Bath being crowned champions in 1994 and 1996 and Leicester in 1995 and 2000.

“It’s like a blast from the past. It’s been a while since Bath have been back at the top of the tree, but it is really nice to have that rivalry properly back on,” Farmer said.

This year has been a return to days gone by, as table-toppers Bath and Leicester finished first and second in the standings for the first time in 25 years.

The current crop of players are well aware of the rich history going into the final at Allianz Stadium Twickenham.

Leicester scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet said: “It is something I’d had fed a little bit into me. It is a game I quite look forward to every year because you do get some small sense from the people gone by before, like the generation before, that there is a bit more importance on that game.”

Bath finished 11 points clear at the top of the table this season and go into Saturday as heavy favourites, having also beaten Leicester 43-15 when the two sides met just four weeks ago.

The Somerset side are in line to win a historic treble if they clinch the Premiership title, having also won the Premiership Rugby Cup and European Challenge Cup this season.

Fittingly, however, the only other English side to win a treble are Leicester, who in 2001 won the league, the inaugural Zurich Championship and the Heineken Cup.

Yet 1996 was the last time Bath were crowned English champions, 29 years ago. And while they were beaten in the 2015 final by Saracens and fell narrowly short against Northampton last season, just three seasons ago they finished rock bottom of the table.

Leicester head coach Michael Cheika has conceded his side are underdogs but says they still have plenty of “belief”.

They were last crowned champions just three years ago in 2022.

Australian Cheika, who will take charge of his final Tigers match, said the club’s successful history will only count for so much.

“To tap into that [history] alone won’t be enough to beat those fellas,” said Cheika. “For all I know they are tapping into it as well. Who knows?

Bath have made two changes to their starting XV for the final, following their semi-final victory against Bristol last Friday.

Prop Thomas du Toit comes into the front row in place of Will Stuart, who drops to the bench, and Miles Reid is at number eight in place of Alfie Barbeary, who is also among the replacements.

Their backs remain unchanged, with Ben Spencer and Finn Russell combining at scrum-half and fly-half, with Will Muir and Joe Cokanasiga on the wings and Tom de Glanville at full-back.

Leicester have named an unchanged side from their semi-final win against Sale.

Captain Julian Montoya will lead the team for the final time, with retiring duo Dan Cole and Ben Youngs both among the replacements.

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.