MATCH REPORT: Bath Rugby 19 Exeter Chiefs 22
Bath Rugby's hopes of early-season silverware came to a shuddering halt when they were beaten at home by West County rivals Exeter Chiefs in the LV= Cup semi-finals.
This is the third year in succession that Bath have come up short in the last-four of the competition. They suffered a home defeat to Leicester Tigers in 2012 and were second best away at Harlequins 12 months ago.
The defeat makes for a miserable few weeks for Bath at The Rec, which had been a fortress for the early part of the campaign. Mike Ford's side were beaten at home by Saracens nine days earlier to all but end their hopes of a top-two finish in the Aviva Premiership.
Chiefs' win was built on an excellent second-half performance as they clinched a first win over Bath since their promotion to the top flight in 2010 and book a place in the final at Sandy Park next Sunday in the process.
Rob Baxter's side will now have to overcome Premiership leaders Northampton Saints if they are to achieve the dream of lifting the trophy in front of their own fans.
For Bath it was very much a case of what could have been. They led by eight points early in the second half and still had the chance to send the match to extra-time with the last kick of the match but Tom Heathcote saw a penalty drop short.
Bath got off to a dream start and were over the whitewash inside a minute when number eight Leroy Houston touched down.
Full-back Nick Abendanon broke from deep and handed over to Horacio Agulla to continue the attack. The Argentina winger carried into the Chiefs 22 and offloaded in the tackle to send Houston over the line in the corner. Heathcote added the extras from out wide.
Exeter almost responded immediately but Abendanon pulled off a try-saving tackle to prevent winger Tom James from dotting down out wide.
And the visitors went close again moments later but hooker Chris Whitehead's pass went to ground with the tryline in sight. Referee Tim Wigglesworth brought play back for an earlier penalty, though, and Henry Slade got Chiefs on the board.
That was cancelled out when Heathcote replied with a kick of his own but Chiefs soon had the upper hand again when Bath were reduced to 14 following the sin-binning of centre Gavin Henson for killing the ball.
It took Exeter just three minutes to capitalise as they got the ball wide to make the extra man count. James sent an inside pass to Luke Arscott and the full-back was able to dot down.
Slade missed the conversion and sent a penalty from 35m wide soon afterwards. Those errors proved costly as another Heathcote kick four minutes before the break sent Bath into the changing rooms five points to the good.
Heathcote inched Bath further clear with another penalty soon after the restart but the visitors turned the game on its head with two tries in the space of seven minutes.
First, Arscott grabbed his second of the afternoon when he gathered Heathcote's clearing kick on halfway before wriggling his way through the home defence to charge under the posts.
And a sensational score from Fetu'u Vainikolo then hauled Chiefs ahead for the first time. The Tonga winger got his hands on the ball on halfway and cut the Bath defence to shreds with a blistering turn of pace to storm under the posts. Slade converted both scores.
Heathcote cut the gap to three points with a penalty just after the hour mark and Slade was unable to capitalise when given his own shot at the posts soon afterwards.
That set up a pulsating conclusion but Bath were unable to build any sustained pressure in Chiefs territory. When they finally did get a chance for further points it came with less than a minute to go.
Chiefs infringed just inside their own half, presenting Heathcote a penalty and the Scotland international ten had to make it count in order to send the match into extra-time. His effort dropped agonisingly short, however, allowing Chiefs to kick the ball dead to clinch their place in next weekend's final.BATH RUGBY Abendanon, Rokoduguni, Devoto (Banahan 48), Henson (Williams 74), Agulla, Heathcote, Roberts (Stringer 58), Catt, Guinazu (Batty 46), Orlandi (Perenise 46), Hooper (c), Caldwell, Garvey, Mercer (Louw 46), Houston. Replacements: Palma-Newport, Gilbert.Try: Houston Conversion: Heathcote Penalties: Heathcote 4EXETER CHIEFS: Arscott, Jess, Whitten, Dollman, James, Slade, Lewis, Rimmer, Whitehead, Tui, Mumm, (c) Welch, Ewers, White, Horstmann. Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Bateman, Brown, Hanks, Scaysbrook, Thomas, Steenson, Vainikolo. Tries: Arscott 2, Vainikolo Conversions: Slade 2 Penalty: SladeReferee: Tim WigglesworthAttendance: 9,225
