Callard revels in the happiest of returns

Bath 20 Leeds

Revenge would be too strong a word, but there was no disguising the pleasure felt by Leeds' Bath old boys, Jon Callard and Mark Regan, on their winning return to The Rec. The pair embraced, punched the air and generally frolicked about at the final whistle, having seen the Tykes live up to their nickname by dogging out an undistinguished but nonetheless rewarding victory.

Callard, 14 years a Bath player and coach before he left with some reluctance at the start of the year, admitted beforehand that he had found it difficult to be a prophet in his own land. He is certainly enjoying life away from the Avon, with Leeds now up to second place in the table behind Gloucester, while his old club remain in the doldrums, with one win in seven Premiership matches.

The Rec showed where their affections lay, by greeting Callard with a warm round of applause as he took his pitchside seat in the unfamiliar position of the visitors' bench. For Regan, who moved to Leeds in the summer, there was a predictably rougher welcome back, at the heart of the front row, but it was a test the England hooker passed with distinction. Only in the last minute was Regan forced to leave the field, having been battered from pillar to post, legitimately and otherwise, in a ding-dong battle with his direct replacement, Jon Humphreys, and pretty much the whole Bath pack.

When Callard and his Bath successors, Mike Foley and Brian Smith – who as of yesterday are officially calling themselves co-coaches – come to pore over the video tape of this game, they will need fingers and toes to count the number of line-out throws that went astray, or incomplete scrums. Perhaps it was too much to expect clean set-piece play, given the Anglo-Welsh gentleman's excuse-me between Regan and Humphreys going on at the middle of it all. But the effect was to place the onus on defence, where Leeds are proving themselves up to the task week in, week out. Bath's approach in seeking to improve a total of four tries in their previous six Premiership matches consisted of a few sideways movements of the ball, then Mike Catt applying the order of the boot.

Catt tried every kick imaginable. The high launch to the wide, the grubber, the one bounced into the turf for a sharp ricochet. It was grimly effective, in that Matt Perry scored the first try of the afternoon from one of the Catt cross-kicks on the half-hour, and Olly Barkley plundered a second when Leeds' Chris Hall dithered over dealing with a grass-cutter 18 minutes into the second half. But as a means of securing victory, it was desperate to watch, particularly from so talented a playmaker as Catt.

The irony was that when Bath had to run the ball they looked good. By that time, though, it was too late. The score stood at 15-all – Braam van Straaten having kicked five penalties for Leeds, to a penalty and the conversion of Perry's try by Barkley – when Catt tried a dropped goal after 71 minutes. A wingless bird, the kick fell well short, and Leeds, through George Harder, tapped and went from their 22. Tristan Davies bounced off Barkley and Tindall as he motored up the left touchline, then the ball came infield for Stewart Campbell to send his second row partner Tom Plamer over, handing Steve Borthwick off.

Van Straaten converted; 22-15. Now Bath ran. Tindall, possibly to his own surprise, beat four men in one go.

Ross Blake and Catt flung the ball towards the left touchline, where Simon Danielli, who had long been crying out for some decent possession, skidded in at the corner. Barkley's conversion would have made it Bath's third home draw on the trot in the Premiership.

It slid clear of the posts to the right: Barkley's fourth miss in six attempts, although also the most difficult.

The consistently impressive Palmer could not have done much more in front of England's forwards coach, Andy Robinson. Bath's discipline let them down with a petulant yellow card for Gareth Cooper, their scrum-half. When it comes to what it takes to fly high in the Premiership, Leeds – Callard and all – currently have it. Bath, the fallen aristocrats, have to re-learn it.

Bath: M Perry; O Barkley, K Maggs, M Tindall, S Danielli; M Catt, G Cooper (J Scaysbrook, 68); S Emms, J Humphreys (A Long, 57), A Galasso (J Mallett, 51), S Borthwick, D Grewcock (capt), G Thomas (R Blake, 57), N Thomas, D Lyle (A Beattie, 42).

Leeds: D Scarbrough; G Harder, T Davies, B van Straaten (C Emmerson, 28-36), C Hall; G Ross, A Dickens; M Shelley (capt), M Regan (R Rawlinson, 83), G Kerr, S Campbell (P Murphy, 80), T Palmer, C Mather, I Feaunati (A Popham, 67), D Hyde.

Referee: C White (Gloucestershire).