Ford punished by Rokoduguni as Leicester return is spoiled by former club Bath

George Ford saw Semesa Rokoduguni score a try after intercepting his pass as his second Leicester Tigers debut ended in a 27-23 defeat to former club Bath.

England international Ford agreed a return to Leicester last February, but his first Premiership outing since re-joining ended in disappointment as the fly-half was at fault for Bath’s third try at Welford Road.

Under pressure from Jonathan Joseph, Ford’s attempt to offload to Telusa Veainu was picked off by Rokodoguni, who sprinted the length of the pitch to touch down.

That sent the visitors into half-time with a 21-8 advantage, Max Clark’s first-half double overturning Leicester’s lead following a Ford penalty and Manu Tuilagi try.

Bath looked in control, but poor discipline almost proved costly, with Kahn Fotuali’i, Matt Garvey and Matt Banahan all shown yellow cards as the Tigers clawed back the points.

Jonny May dotted down in the 72nd minute for the first time since arriving at Leicester from Gloucester and had a second five minutes later, but Bath held on despite finishing the game with 13 men.

Huge performance from @bathrugby! pic.twitter.com/diOTUVELJw

— Bath Rugby (@BathRugby) September 3, 2017