Stu Forster / Staff© Stu Forster / Staff

The clubhouse at Bath is a place of ghosts. On the slanting walls are photographs of the heroes of yesteryear. Richard Hill, Gareth Chilcott, Stuart Barnes look down without the benefit of Technicolor but with a smile of silverware. Recent success at the Recreation Ground has been sparse but next weekend the class of 2015 have a chance to exorcise those demons.

A lie was exposed at the Recreation Ground on Saturday. You do not need possession nor territory to win a match. Bath had just eight visits to Leicester's 22 but a potent cocktail of stardust, sidesteps and the best young fly-half in the country is enough to win semi-finals. George Ford had the match on a piece of string and his decision-making was a major factor in Bath booking a spot in their first Aviva Premiership final since 2004.

In September Bath put 45 points on Leicester, this time it was 47. This result was more alarming for the Tigers given the way they shut out Wasps a fortnight ago but they were left to bemoan their injured firepower and discipline.

It wasn't meant to be this much of a shellacking but Bath's backs have a unique ability in unlocking defences. For all Leicester's time on the ball they simply did not have the ability to break the gainline. In the end it was jouer rugby with Bath seeing a Leicester team wilting in front of their eyes and even Dave Attwood made 40 metres after the most outrageous of dummies.

It was a special occasion at the Rec. The pitch was bathed in sunlight prior to kick-off and it was teed up to be another worthy addition to the 102 years of rivalry between the two sides. The only downside in terms of matchday experience was the relentless brass band in the corner who managed to produce perhaps the world's first, and hopefully last, tuba rendition of 'Smoke on the Water'. Thankfully a couple of injunctions from the ground's personnel helped shut them down to only playing in breaks in play rather than booming covers of the Proclaimers, Mark Ronson and Jessie J over the natural, organic atmosphere.

On the field, one of the tallest men there, Matt Banahan scored a hat-trick but it was two diminutive players who were calmness personified that helped Bath home. For all Leicester's territory, they would have killed for a combination of Peter Stringer and Ford. They were master puppeteers. Whenever Ford collects the ball he seems to have somehow bought an extra second out of the space-time continuum while Stringer is there to provide him with the ball at the optimum moments. He will be missed next term and is a superb addition. "He's like a coach on the field," was Mike Ford's assessment of the 37-year old and the standing ovation he received was testament to the impact he has made in Bath.

Matt Banahan© Ben Hoskins/Getty Images

Alongside the two half-backs, once you add in the fleet-footed Jonathan Joseph, Anthony Watson, Kyle Eastmond and Semesa Rokoduguni alongside Banahan, who is in the form of his life, you have a potentially Premiership-winning backline. Rokoduguni's sidestep for Eastmond's try was a moment of instinctive brilliance.

For all the free-running of the backs, the work of Francois Louw was key. He put in 13 tackles and helped hold the Tigers at bay when, for all the world, they should have scored.

At times Leicester's squandered overlaps were bizarre while they had an unfortunate knack of knocking the ball on whenever they stepped into Bath's 22. The error count - including four missed penalties - proved to be their downfall. Banahan is England's forgotten man and Leicester have their own. Mathew Tait and Graham Kitchener - both omitted from the training squad this week - were their best players but they were let down by handling errors from their team-mates. Richard Cockerill also bemoaned their injured contingent, name-checking Tom Croft, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Allen and Geoff Parling, but a summer of re-appraisal now awaits as the Tigers look to fine-tune their style for next season.

The final promises to be an intriguing clash of two contrasting styles. It will be flowing rugby going toe-to-toe with the brutish Saracens. Bath won't have the same license to entertain, Jacques Burger will see to that, but they will go with the same intention: run the ball and if in doubt, give it to Ford.