This was a very important match for the Bath players, to erase the misery of last week's result: the Bath club, to bring to a close the seemingly endless run of defeats to its greatest modern foe and the Bath supporters, who can once again give their Tiger loving workmates a bit of gip! Leicester broke new ground as they lost their fifth match on the bounce and Dean Richards must be desperate for England's World Cup to finish so he can have his old war horses, Johnson and Back return to domestic duty. If things continue like this for the East Midlanders, Richards must be half-expecting the Chairman's tap on the shoulder.

Robbie Fleck must have enjoyed winning the opening game of his Bath career and it will be interesting to hear his views on English Premiership rugby. But to be fair this was not wholly representative of English rugby at its best and certainly not the legendary Leicester Tigers. Whilst the Bath forwards maintained their excellent form the backs once again looked disjointed in attack whilst being very strong in defence. Mind you, it is not surprising that the backs struggled to develop any smooth attacking moves because I'm not sure that Martyn Wood threw an easy pass to Chris Malone all afternoon.

On their own the Bath backs look fine with Andrew Higgins running eel-like as escaped the clutches of the Tiger defenders on several occasions. Matt Perry was back on form and Tim Brasher, who replaced Jamie Williams very early in the match, made a dash upfield that could have bagged him a try whilst his positional play indicates he is starting to learn the Union ropes. But when attacking from line-outs, scrums and rucks, where Wood is in control, the back unit looks static and lacking confidence: perhaps with an old campaigner like Mike Catt at No 10 the wrinkles in Wood's game could be quickly ironed out but plucky Chris Malone needs to look after his own game without worrying about his partner.

Then in the 19th minute Zac Fea'unati announced his presence on the game when he picked up the ball on the Tiger's twenty-two and ran through three defenders before crashing over for the opening try: it was like a rhino on the hoof (as dear old Bill McLaren might have said). This looked like something from another era when Mike Catt tried to contain Jonah Lomu in a previous World Cup and it was something to behold, I still can't believe Leeds let him come to us.

Five minutes later it looked as though Daryl Gibson was going to score but Andrew Higgins managed to disrupt things with what referee Ashley Rowden adjudged was a professional foul and Pez slotted home the simple penalty: perhaps Bath can count themselves lucky not to have conceded a penalty try, especially as it seemed Rowden was in the mood for punishment with the hatful of yellow cards he dished out!

Another penalty and an opportunist try for Matt Perry made the half time score 18 - 3. Bath had been awarded a penalty on the edge of the Tiger's twenty-two and the visitors assumed that Olly Barkley would kick in to the corner for a last play of catch and drive. Instead Martyn Wood took a quick tap and hoofed the ball across field for Duncan Bell to pass on to Perry for the score. It's ironic that this week's option to not go for touch resulted in a very important try (right on half-time) whereas last week it contributed to our loss: funny old game this rugby!

Fortunately Olly Barkley stepped up to the plate when we needed him with a lovely little sidestep in the 75th minute to run in for Bath's third try of the afternoon. Tim Brasher and Robbie Fleck had worked together on the left wing to set up Barkley and with the score at 31 - 12 everyone with blue, black and white in their veins could start to relax.

A late Austin Healey try gave the Tigers hope that they could at least grab a losing bonus point but it was too late and Bath maintained their top of the league position. Bath are again five points clear and Leicester are second from bottom of the league - what odds on that at the start of the season?

Without doubt Bath should have scored four tries and gained the valuable scoring bonus point but they lost the plot for much of the second half and coach Connelly will be kicking the cat (sorry Mike) at this lost opportunity.

I thought Andy Beattie was outstanding today and watching him in a race for the ball against two Leicester backs, and getting the better of them, was pure joy. He gets better every game and has to be in the running for Player of the Season.

Glawster next week will be tough after their loss at the Saints today: the Shed will want their biggest enemy to suffer the backlash and given their superb home record it will be tough for Bath to get a win.

Let's have a look at the latest league table.

Scorers