Aviva Premiership Semi-Final

Bath vs Leicester: 

Its the classic battle of old vs new in this fixture. Bath, relatively untested on this stage, with their gorgeous back play, beautiful offloading, and mesmerizing running lines. Leicester, the old boys, they’ve been here time and time again, and they have every intention of moving on. Their massive pack will look to keep them on the front foot, while their backs will look to use the space those forwards make for them. This will make for a great watch.

Bath call upon Wales loosehead, Paul James, and England tighthead Davey Wilson to hold together their scrum, which will come under attack from the Leicester front row. Hooker Ross Batty will need to be at his best at scrum and lineout time, for if Bath cannot secure the set-pieces, they cannot win. Leicester call upon a fully internationally capped front row featuring the dominant Argentine Marcos Ayerza, and the English duo of Tom Youngs and Dan Cole. Cole is in great form at the moment, and Youngs has been having a memorable season as well.

Graham Kitchener joins the legendary All Black, Brad Thorn in the second row. Thorn will want to end his career on a high, and Leicester will be determined to help him achieve that. Dave Attwood will want to show Stuart Lancaster that he is worthy of keeping England’s 4 shirt, despite the return of Joe Launchbury and Geoff Parling, while Stuart Hooper will provide the leadership and experience that Bath need.

Ed Slater, Julian Salvi, and Jordan Crane round out a very well balanced back row for Leicester. Salvi and Crane are both having phenomenal seasons, and Bath must be able to get away from the endless tackling of Salvi if they want to get across the gainline. Francois Louw is a monster at the breakdown, so expect Leicester to run at him to take him out of the equation, if he gets his chance he will pilfer the ball time and time again. Sam Burgess starts at 7, and that means that Leicester should probably just forget about the match and go home. Thats a joke, relax. Burgess and Houston are phenomenal athletes who need to be watched, or they can do some real damage with ball in hand.

Irish legend Peter Stringer starts at 9, and his beautiful crisp passes should provide the perfect platform for George Ford to attack the line. Ford has been one of the best players of 2015, and a title would be the perfect lead up to his World Cup charge with England. Ben Youngs can do a lot of damage around the fringes with his electric pace, and Freddie Burns will keep Leicester in the right parts of the field with his superb kicks from hand. If Bath cannot stop Youngs from running all over the park like he did against France, they may struggle to win this one.

Christian Loamanu starts at inside center, and his large frame should open up gaps for the wily Matthew Tait, who will be all too happy to run through them. Kyle Eastmond will use his electric pace and agility, along with his sublime hands to keep Jonathan Joseph in space throughout the match. Joseph was a revelation for England at 13, and if he can keep that up, this lethal Bath duo could tear Leicester apart.

Bath have named quite the explosive back three, with Matt Banahan, Semesa Rokoduguni, and Anthony Watson all charged up and raring to go. Watson is another player who burst into life for England this season, and will be a major threat when he gets his hands on the ball. Leicester have chosen Vereniki Goneva, Adam Thompstone, and Niall Morris in their back three. Morris is in flying form at the moment and we know what Niki Goneva is capable of when he is given space. Goneva is likely to be the real danger man for Leicester, and he will likely be Bath’s biggest focal point in defence, if not, he will make them pay.

This match is full of potential. As long as it does not dissolve into a kicking fest (which I cannot see happening) it should be an absolute cracker. While Bath have had Leicester’s number all season long, you can almost hear the Leicester players assuredly saying “third time lucky”. Of course, neither side will leave it up to luck, and will leave it all on the field, but I see Bath just sneaking by in this one.

Prediction: Bath 22- Leicester 20