Bath turned it up in the 2nd half to secure place in the Premiership final

Bristol Bears left it all out on the pitch as their Gallagher Premiership title hopes were ended by rivals Bath Rugby in a thrilling play-off semi-final at The Recreation Ground.

James Dun’s incredible try and eight points from the boot of AJ MacGinty gave Pat Lam’s men a hard-fought 13-6 lead at the break after a breathless first half.

But missed opportunities proved costly for the visitors as Bath scored four tries in 20 minutes through Ted Hill, Joe Cokanasiga, Will Muir and Max Ojomoh to pull ahead.

Bears fought until the very end and responded with a second try through Benhard Janse van Rensburg, but it was not enough to deny Bath a place in the Premiership showpiece.

A fast and furious start to the contest saw Bears withstand early pressure from the hosts, holding the ball up over the whitewash, before the visitors struck the first blow of the contest as MacGinty knocked over a penalty from in front of the posts.

Kalaveti Ravouvou followed up with a moment of magic in the 18^th minute, receiving the ball deep in the Bears’ half before beating several defenders down the right wing, setting up a sensational team try finished off by Dun under the sticks.

The extras from MacGinty put the Bears 10-0 up but the visitors suffered their first setback soon after as Ravouvou was sent to the sin-bin for an alleged trip. From the resulting penalty, Finn Russell stepped up to open the scoring for Bath on 22 minutes.

Bears were forced into an early change as half-time approached, with Kieran Marmion coming on to replace the injured Harry Randall, and Bath closed the gap further on 38 minutes as Russell kicked his second penalty of the contest to make it 10-6.

But with Ravouvou restored to the field, Bears scored the final points of the half as MacGinty slotted a tricky penalty to put the away side 13-6 up at the break.

Bath levelled the scores soon after the restart as Hill went over in the corner, with Russell converting the extras, before Cokanasiga put the hosts ahead for the first time when he collected his own chip to dot down. Russell converted to make it 20-13.

The hosts took advantage of their momentum to score a third try on 55 minutes, with the ball spread wide to Muir who was able to get it down in the corner despite pressure from Noah Heward. Russell added another two to extend Bath’s lead to 27-13.

Ojomoh crashed over for Bath’s fourth try and Russell converted again on the hour mark to make it 34-13 to the regular season league leaders going into the final quarter.

Bears continued to battle away as they powered through 18 phases before Ellis Genge powered his way over the whitewash, only for Bath to hold him up over the line.

The visitors pushed again and appeared to have a second try when Harry Thacker squeezed his way over the line but the replacement hooker was denied by a combination of Miles Reid and Tom Dunn as they wrapped the ball up again.

Harry Byrne came off the bench to sprinkle a bit of magic with a kick through to Janse van Rensburg as Bears crossed for their second try of the evening, with the extras added, but Bath withstood the late pressure to secure their place in the final.

Bath Rugby: Tries: Hill 41, Cokanasiga 48, Muir 54, Ojomoh 59; Cons: Russell 41, 48, 54, 60; Pens: Russell 22, 38

Bristol Bears: Tries: Dun 17, Janse van Rensburg 75; Cons: MacGinty 18, Byrne 75; Pens: MacGinty 12, 40

Bristol Bears: 15. Noah Heward, 14. Kalaveti Ravouvou, 13. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12. James Williams, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Gabriel Oghre, 3. George Kloska, 4. James Dun, 5. Joe Batley, 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Fitz Harding (c), 8. Viliame Mata.

Replacements: 16. Harry Thacker, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. Max Lahiff, 19. Pedro Rubiolo, 20. Santiago Grondona, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. Harry Byrne, 23. Jack Bates

Bath Rugby: 15. Tom de Glanville, 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Max Ojomoh, 12. Cameron Redpath, 11. Will Muir, 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ben Spencer (c); 1. Beno Obano, 2. Tom Dunn, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Quinn Roux, 5. Charlie Ewels, 6. Ted Hill, 7. Guy Pepper, 8. Alfie Barbeary

Replacements: 16. Niall Annett, 17. Francois van Wyk, 18. Thomas du Toit, 19. Ross Molony, 20. Miles Reid, 21. Tom Carr-Smith, 22. Ciaran Donoghue, 23. Josh Bayliss