Leicester’s head coach Steve Borthwick was watching the match at home on television having had to isolate. He would have been tempted to reach for the off button at the end of the opening quarter when his side trailed by 14 points having conceded two soft tries that summed up why they have been in the bottom two for the last few seasons, but by the end his charges were very much switched on. Leicester’s England half-backs Ben Youngs and George Ford both overcame hesitant starts to lead the comeback in their first Premiership appearances of the season and the destructive ball-carrier Leicester have been missing for too long materialised in the form of the No 8 Jasper Wiese who overcame an early yellow card for a late tackle on Anthony Watson to take the fight to a Bath side that made scant use of its attacking resources. Yet Bath could not have made a better start. Borthwick is known for his attention to detail and Leicester’s lineout has improved since he took charge in the summer, but communication broke down after Harry Wells caught Tom Youngs’s throw on the home side’s 22 two minutes in. What happened next was bizarre. Youngs broke from the maul as if he had the ball with his brother Ben behind him. The player actually in possession was the Bath second row Josh McNally and he set off for the line. He was tackled a few metres short by Nemani Nadolo but Beno Obano was in support to give Bath a fast start in their quest for a fourth successive Premiership victory here. Leicester were offering little except effort. Ford missed a 40-metre penalty before his half-back partner Ben Youngs sent a box-kick straight into touch. The England scrum-half was playing opposite Ben Spencer who, despite impressive performances for Bath, has become an international outcast, but it was Spencer who first injected the match with some quality when at an attacking ruck on the home 10-metre line, he spotted there was no guard and that the Leicester flanker George Martin was fixing a hole that proved to be too wide. Spencer darted away and when he confronted Freddie Steward he chipped the ball over the full-back’s head into the 22. The bounce was unkind and his fly-kick sent it on a diagonal path towards the posts. Nadolo tugged him back but it was a futile gesture that, at that point, summed up his side. Suddenly, Ford and Youngs stepped up. Bath conceded 12 penalties in the opening half and Ford kicked two to coax his side into a contest that had been passing them by. Then Ben Youngs took a penalty quickly, Nadolo bounced off Watson and Ellis Genge cannoned through Jonathan Joseph to set up a series of drives. Ford demanded the ball after the forwards were recalled and teased the defence as he waited for Steward to make a late run. Watson had the dilemma of whether to challenge the full-back or hold his line in case Ford’s pass was long but stranded himself in the middle of nowhere as Steward brought Leicester to within a point of Bath. A Rhys Priestland penalty would have given Bath a 17-13 interval lead if they had not used two penalties after the clock had reached zero to force lineouts in Bath’s half. They lost both and Ford kicked his third penalty after Cameron Redpath entered a ruck from the side and two minutes after the restart, Leicester took the lead for the first time when Ford switched to the blindside and Nadolo’s pass out of the back of his hand freed Wells. Bath drew level with two Priestland kicks and he equalised again after Ford had restored Leicester’s lead. Wiese gave away two penalties at rucks and he spent the afternoon playing on the edge. His ball-carrying ensured he finished the afternoon in credit: he made 115 metres and played a leading role in the move that led to the Tigers’ third and decisive try, scored by the replacement second row Cameron Henderson. Leicester’s tactics were uncomplicated. Ford, who finished with 21 points, tested the Bath back three with a series of kicks, resorting after the interval to high, spiralling bombs that faded as the receiver went to catch the ball, as if taken by the wind. The anxiety he caused led to his fifth penalty seven minutes from time which gave his side a 10-point lead, but he may have created a variant that leads to even more kicking in matches. Bath belatedly stirred themselves, but Redpath’s late try gave them only a bonus point which dropped them to ninth in the table with Leicester climbing to seventh. The Tigers have been on a downward spiral, but Ford’s spiral bombs have them looking up again. “Our leaders stepped up when we needed them to,” said the Leicester assistant coach, Brett Deacon. “Steve sent us a text immediately to say he was delighted by the performance and the result.”