Amidst one of English rugby's most storied rivalries, the match between the Tigers versus Bath proved to be heavily influenced by an emotion at half-time than any rugby during the pitch.
Martin Johnson led a phalanx of Leicester former players in honour of the great Lewis Moody, after he revealed that he has been diagnosed with MND.
When Moody wore the Tigers' shirt at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, before moving to Bath for the last two years in a distinguished playing career, Leicester were more or less still at their very best, while their opponents found themselves in the middle of a long drought without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, the first time they have called themselves that since the 1990s.
An Emotional Welcome at Welford Road
The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them a classic, robust reception, embracing the role of the unfancied team in their own stadium, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession during the break that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road will always be the home of his rugby heart.
Looking back, the visiting side did not stand a chance. Sure enough, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, Leicester managed to coax a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.
A Dramatic Climax
The replacement fly-half, on for the excellent James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for the club, darted blind, before the Bath prop made a high tackle, an infringement for which he saw yellow. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick on an angle to steal the win.
It felt like being back in the days to Lewis Moody's prime. Without a doubt, Leicester, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, no matter the pedigree they face.
Contrasting Styles
The visitors were sublime when in possession. So Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour which saw them trail 17-7, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties conceded by the away side kept Bath on the back foot, their forwards thoroughly outplayed at the set piece for most of the match.
Leicester’s three tries were carbon copies of each other, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath's three tries were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath were the finishers, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Leicester. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith powered over to score either side of half-time.
The Nail-Biting Finish
Those scores gave Leicester the lead, an advantage they maintained for the majority of the second period. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath secured sufficient possession to score their fourth. Actually, their scoring opportunity arrived via an infrequent penalty in the scrum, with their South African reinforcements now on the field. Finn Russell, after missing two earlier kicks, landed the kick inside the final ten minutes.
That only inspired Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, set up by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins down the left. After earning the penalty that put Bath ahead in a situation he relishes, the unfortunate prop gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. There could be only one result.
