Amidst a classic rugby union's most storied contests, the match between Leicester versus Bath was as much about an emotion at the interval than the rugby on play.
Martin Johnson headed a phalanx comprising Leicester old boys in honour of the great Lewis Moody, who has revealed that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
When Moody last pulled on the Tigers' shirt here, a decade and a half past, prior to joining Bath for the last two years of a storied career, the home side were more or less close to the peak of their powers, while Bath were situated enduring a long drought without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, marking the first occasion they have called themselves that since the 1990s.
A Truly Emotional Welcome at Welford Road
The Tigers, on a wave of emotion, served up a classic, robust reception, embracing the role of the unfancied team in their own stadium, the 18,000 Midlanders greatly inspired by Moody’s confession at half-time that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road will always be the home of his rugby heart.
Looking back, the visiting side were always up against it. Sure enough, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, Leicester won one last penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
A Dramatic Decisive Moment
The replacement fly-half, on for the excellent James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for the club, darted blind, and Thomas du Toit made a high tackle, for which offence he saw yellow. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to steal the win.
We might as well have been transported back 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 can still yield results, no matter the pedigree they face.
Contrasting Game Plans
Bath were a different class when in possession. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period in which they fell 17-7 behind, learned to deprive them of any. A succession of penalties against the away side kept Bath under constant pressure, their forwards thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.
Leicester’s three tries were carbon copies of each other, all scored from close range; Bath's three tries were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath were the finishers, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Then, on the back of those penalties, Reffell and Smith powered over to score either side of half-time.
The Tense Finish
Those scores gave Leicester the lead, which they held for the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath secured sufficient possession to score their fourth. In fact, their breakthrough came with a rare penalty at the scrum, their South Africans by then on. Finn Russell, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, landed the kick with a little less than 10 minutes to play.
That only inspired Leicester for one last, brutish assault, initiated by the energetic Hassell-Collins on the left wing. After earning the penalty that earned Bath the lead in a situation he relishes, poor Du Toit conceded where he is not. There could be only one result.
