London Wasps 18 Bath Rugby 24

Bath held out against London Wasps in a gripping semi-final clash to reach their first Challenge Cup final since 2008.

The damage was done by Bath in the opening hour as Anthony Perenese crossed the whitewash and Rob Webber grabbed a brace of tries before Wasps attempted a late comeback that proved fruitless.

Andy Goode and George Ford traded successful penalty kicks in the early stages, before Bath took over proceedings, getting some momentum behind their first significant driving maul and Perenise crashing down.

Wasps outside centre Eliot Daly set off on a mazy run down the right wing just before the break, then offloaded his pass to Will Helu who cut back inside to score under the posts.

That gave the hosts the advantage at the break but it was Bath who dominated the third quarter of the match to build an unassailable lead.

Wasps were architects of their own demise as Carlo Festuccia inexplicably threw straight over the shortened line-out, with Webber gleefully accepting the gift to crash down against his former club.

The Bath maul continued to cause issues for Wasps and, after twice deliberately collapsing, Wasps were helpless to prevent Webber bundling over for his second of the match.

Ford's conversion gave Bath a healthy 24-13 advantage before Wasps struck back to set up a grandstand finish.

It was Ashley Johnson who stretched out to cross in the corner, however Bath, despite losing Matt Garvey and Eastmond to injury and the sin-bin respectively, held on for a famous win.

You can watch Bath Rugby v Montpellier live on BT Sport, beIN SPORTS and FR4 from 20:00 (UK and Irish time) on Saturday May 1.

With Bath Rugby in European Rugby Challenge Cup semi-final action next weekend, we’ve taken a look back at the West Country side’s win in the last four back in 2014 over Wasps.