It started to go wrong for Bath a year ago. They tamely lost to Leicester in the play-off semi-final at Walkers Stadium and many of the squad then went to an end-of-season party in London that led to four players leaving the club after an internal inquiry into allegations of drug-taking.
One player, Justin Harrison, was released from his contract a few weeks early and was later banned after admitting taking cocaine. Three others resigned after refusing requests by the club to take drug tests and were subsequently given long suspensions by the Rugby Football Union for not complying with Bath's wishes.
All four were senior players and their loss, together with the departure of the forwards coach, Mark Bakewell, brought instability. Bath held a media conference before the start of the season fronted by senior players and the head coach, Steve Meehan, to announce a code of conduct and a series of core values.
Squad spirit, said Meehan, had never been higher but the campaign started with a resounding defeat at their West Country rivals Gloucester and a home loss to Wasps. Sale were beaten at Edgeley Park and Leicester were held to a draw at the Recreation Ground before Bath lost at Harlequins and started their Heineken Cup campaign with defeats against Ulster and Stade Français, two teams who were to finish in the bottom half of their leagues.
There was no relief on a return to Premiership action. Bath lost at home to Newcastle and Saracens, drew at Worcester and failed to score in front of their own supporters against London Irish before losing in the final minute. Discounting the LV=Cup, the first time Bath won at home was on 13 December against Edinburgh in the Heineken Cup, only to lose the return fixture.
Their first Premiership victory at the Rec came at the end of December against Gloucester and when they travelled to Leeds on the second day of January, defeat would have left them at the bottom of the table. Four months later, and last weekend's victory over Leeds has taken them into the play-off semi-finals and back to Leicester.
Bath did not lose at home again in the league after the London Irish debacle and the only reverse in five months came at Welford Road. They accumulated 12 points in their first 10 matches but more than four times that in their final 12 as fears of outings to Birmingham, Rotherham and Esher next season were replaced with dreams of a first league title since the first year of professionalism.
Bath dominated the league in the amateur era, champions five seasons out of eight, but Leicester have dominated the tournament since rugby union went open in 1995, winning it six times in the last 12 years and the Tigers go into the play-offs as the top seeds.
It has been a remarkable transformation by Meehan's men who head the Premiership's try table with 49, partly explained by the return to fitness of Butch James and Olly Barkley, who both missed the first five months of the season, and the change of refereeing emphasis at the breakdown, but by February the percussive effect of the previous summer's scandal had eased.
After the 16-0 defeat by London Irish last November, the fans forum on Bath's website held a poll on the future of Meehan: 32% of those who responded said he should stay, 39% wanted him to go immediately with the rest saying he should go either if Bath lost at Leeds or at the end of the season.
Comments ranged from "he has been found out … Mark Bakewell was the brains behind the outfit" and "get rid of him, he could not run a bath let alone Bath Rugby" to "bring Brian Ashton back into the fold". Bath held firm, possibly because the club's owner, Andrew Brownsword, was looking for someone to buy him out, and their reward is a place at the top table.
The storm clouds have gone. A new owner, the richest in the Premiership, has taken over from the reclusive Brownsword. Bath will either be at a new ground in four years or playing at a redeveloped Recreation Ground. They will enjoy state-of-the-art training facilities and gone should be the days when players left for a few quid extra elsewhere.
Can Bath end Leicester's dominance? Under Meehan they have become one of the most fluent teams in the Premiership, willing to run from everywhere, but they have been less adept at closing games out. Last season, they humbled Leicester for more than an hour at Welford Road, 22-9 ahead 11 minutes from time with James orchestrating play with such virtuosity that he made Geordan Murphy look a novice at full-back.
Bath could not tighten up when they needed to and fell victim to two Tom Croft tries. They have won at Welford Road only once in the last 15 years, 13-12 in 2003; a second on Sunday would enhance an already astonishing comeback but they will need to replicate Leicester's pragmatism.
This is an excerpt from The Breakdown, guardian.co.uk/sport's free rugby email. Get The Breakdown delivered direct to your inbox by signing up here. Paul Rees will be writing The Breakdown for the rest of the season.
