Bath 27 Leicester Tigers 26
Leicester Tigers' hopes of securing home advantage in the Aviva Premiership play-offs came crashing down at The Rec.
They lost a thrilling contest in sun-bathed conditions as the home side bounced back from a 20-12 first-half deficit to score a match-winning try with just six minutes left.
Tigers now need at least two points from their home game with London Irish in a fortnight to make sure they will finish in the top two, whatever third-placed Harlequins do at home to Northampton.
Man-of-the-match Francois Louw's winning score, however, was also Bath's fourth of the game which kept alive their hopes of a Heineken Cup spot next season.
The final whistle sparked scenes of wild celebrations on the Bath sidelines and in the packed stands of The Rec.
And that was no more than the hosts deserved after dominating the second half and fighting back from three deficits during the game.
The visitors led 20-19 after an action-packed first period which saw Tom Croft and Ben Youngs cross the tryline for Tigers - Youngs' score was one of the tries of the season as he ran 80 metres after a tap penalty.
But Bath scored three tries of their own through Simon Taylor, Semesa Rokoduguni and former Tigers winger Horacio Agulla to keep themselves in the game.
With Stephen Donald and Tom Heathcote's goal-kicking off the radar, Bath also left 13 points out on the field which helped Tigers extend their half-time lead to 26-19 after a pair of Toby Flood penalties.
Heathcote closed the gap and, as Bath piled forward in search of a winning score, Anthony Perenise's late break gave Louw the chance to dive over in the corner and send the home crowd into raptures.
Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill said his side had contributed to their own downfall.
"They deserved their win and we were too inaccurate at times," he said.
"We paid for that. We were poor in the second half and you cannot let Bath continually run at you because, at some point, you will break and they will score.
"They did that and we only have ourselves to blame."
Leicester Tigers' hopes of securing home advantage in the Aviva Premiership play-offs came crashing down at The Rec.
They lost a thrilling contest in sun-bathed conditions as the home side bounced back from a 20-12 first-half deficit to score a match-winning try with just six minutes left.
Tigers now need at least two points from their home game with London Irish in a fortnight to make sure they will finish in the top two, whatever third-placed Harlequins do at home to Northampton.
Man-of-the-match Francois Louw's winning score, however, was also Bath's fourth of the game which kept alive their hopes of a Heineken Cup spot next season.
The final whistle sparked scenes of wild celebrations on the Bath sidelines and in the packed stands of The Rec.
And that was no more than the hosts deserved after dominating the second half and fighting back from three deficits during the game.
The visitors led 20-19 after an action-packed first period which saw Tom Croft and Ben Youngs cross the tryline for Tigers - Youngs' score was one of the tries of the season as he ran 80 metres after a tap penalty.
But Bath scored three tries of their own through Simon Taylor, Semesa Rokoduguni and former Tigers winger Horacio Agulla to keep themselves in the game.
With Stephen Donald and Tom Heathcote's goal-kicking off the radar, Bath also left 13 points out on the field which helped Tigers extend their half-time lead to 26-19 after a pair of Toby Flood penalties.
Heathcote closed the gap and, as Bath piled forward in search of a winning score, Anthony Perenise's late break gave Louw the chance to dive over in the corner and send the home crowd into raptures.
Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill said his side had contributed to their own downfall.
"They deserved their win and we were too inaccurate at times," he said.
"We paid for that. We were poor in the second half and you cannot let Bath continually run at you because, at some point, you will break and they will score.
"They did that and we only have ourselves to blame."
