European Cup Quarter-finals/ Leicester 12 Bath 15: Not since Jean Van de Velde zig-zagged down the 72nd hole of the British Open at Carnoustie in 1999 has anyone blown a contest in such head-clutching fashion.

As Bath make hasty plans to adopt the Great Escape theme as their new anthem, Leicester will shudder every time they recall this April Fools' Day folly. Step aside Devon Loch, Don Fox and Gordon Smith; you have company in the hall of infamy.

It may also be that Bath's 13-man rearguard action for the final nine minutes of a previously below-par quarter-final has law-changing implications for the entire game. Heroic as it was for Bath to cling on in the absence of their sin-binned props David Flatman and Taufa'ao Filise, the regulations played straight into their hands as it slowly dawned on a frustrated Leicester that uncontested scrums would make it significantly trickier to exploit their two-man advantage.

As Bath's Olly Barkley conceded, the visitors were ultimately better off with 13 men than with 14. "It would have been much harder if they'd had an extra man in a contested scrum," said the relieved England centre.

The day when the penalised side are ordered, in such circumstances, to forfeit another player rather than a second specialist prop may well have been hastened as a consequence.

Ultimately, though, the biggest kick of the week will be the one directed up Andy Goode's ample backside by the Tigers' coaching staff once they have examined the video evidence. Quite what the England outhalf thought he was doing by ducking inside when Leicester had a four-on-two overlap on the right will remain a mystery.

To be fair, Goode was not alone in failing to keep a clear head at a vital moment. This season Leicester have made a virtue of striking late, but instead of sucking in the defence and keeping their cool until gaps appeared, they panicked.

Two fine tackles by Tom Cheeseman, a couple of turnovers, an inability to use their scrum power and a lack of accuracy all contrived to keep Bath's line intact; neither did the possibility of kicking a penalty or drop-goal to level the scores seem to occur to any Leicester player.

The Bath forwards, particularly Danny Grewcock and Andy Beattie, deserve huge credit for keeping their line intact but, as Leicester's captain Martin Corry conceded, "We should have won. I can't really think why we lost."

Following England's Six Nations travails, poor Corry is involved in more inquests than the average coroner. His club have won only three of their past nine games and seem to have caught the national disease of failing to rise to the big occasion. This was yet another game that did little to boost faith in the handling skills of English players.

The Tigers will be burning bright for the rest of the season, but only with embarrassment.

LEICESTER: Vesty; Lloyd, Smith, Hipkiss, Murphy; Goode, Ellis; Rowntree, Chuter, White; L Deacon, Kay; Moody, Jennings, Corry (capt). Replacements: Buckland for Chuter (half-time), Healey for Ellis (59 mins), A Tuilagi for Lloyd (62 mins), Abraham for Jennings (64 mins).

BATH: Stephenson; Higgins, Crockett, Barkley, Bory; Malone, Walshe; Filise, Mears, Bell; Hudson, Grewcock; Beattie, Delve, Feaunati (capt). Replacements: Short for Hudson (37 mins), Flatman for Bell (49 mins), Bell for Delve (68 mins), Cheeseman for Crockett (66 mins). Sinbin: Flatman (68 mins), Filise (71 mins).

Referee: J Jutge (France).

• Guardian Service