Back in the Champions Cup – Bath Rugby
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Bath Rugby are back in the Heineken Champions Cup after just one season away and England’s first winners of the prestigious trophy will be looking to resurrect past glories on their return.
1997-98: Winners
After reaching the quarter-finals in their maiden Heineken Champions Cup campaign, Bath became the first English club to lift the cup the following season with a dramatic 19-18 victory over CA Brive in the final at Bordeaux’s Stade Lescure.
Jon Callard silenced a large proportion of the 36,500 crowd with a magnificent display, scoring all Bath’s points via a try, conversion and four penalties as they rallied superbly from a 15-6 half-time deficit.
Brive had inflicted Bath’s solitary defeat in the pool stage by a 29-12 margin in France, although the English side had won their first meeting 27-25 at The Recreation Ground.
Bath then went on to defeat Cardiff 32-21 in the quarter-finals and Section Paloise 20-14 in the semi-finals, both at home, before their momentous victory.
2005-06: Semi-finals
It was another eight seasons before Bath threatened a repeat after again winning five of their six pool games, their solitary defeat (35-23) coming at home to Leinster Rugby when they had already qualified for the quarter-finals.
There they squeezed home 15-12 against Leicester Tigers at the Midlands city’s Walkers Stadium in front of a 32,500 crowd.
However, Bath were unable to pull off a similar heist in the Basque country at Estadio Anoeta in the semi-finals, when an attendance of 31,700 cheered Biarritz Olympique home 18-9.
