Against the backdrop of a classic rugby union's greatest contests, this fixture between Leicester and the visitors was as much about the emotion during the interval as the rugby during play.
The legendary Martin Johnson headed a phalanx of Leicester former players to pay tribute to Lewis Moody, after he revealed that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
When Moody last pulled on a Leicester jersey at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, prior to joining their rivals Bath for the last two years in a distinguished playing career, Leicester were more or less close to the peak of their powers, whereas Bath found themselves enduring 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 in over two decades.
A Truly Passionate Reception at Welford Road
The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them a classic, robust reception, embracing the role of underdogs in their own stadium, the large home crowd further emboldened by Moody’s confession at half-time that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road will always be his rugby home.
In retrospect, Bath were always up against it. Sure enough, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, Leicester won one last penalty out of the Bath defence.
A Dramatic Climax
Billy Searle, on for the impressive James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for Leicester, took a quick tap, before the Bath prop caught him high, an infringement for which he saw yellow. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick on an angle to steal the win.
We might as well have been back in the days of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, the home team, who climb a little higher in a congested league, will be heartened that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, regardless of the quality they face.
Contrasting Game Plans
The visitors were a different class with ball in hand. So Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour which saw them trail 17-7, adapted to starve them of possession. A succession of penalties against Bath kept Bath under constant pressure, their pack comprehensively bested at the set piece throughout the game.
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 Tigers. Subsequently, on the back of those penalties, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith forced their way over for tries just before and just after the break.
A Tense Finish
That earned Tigers a narrow advantage, an advantage they maintained for most of the second half. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. Actually, their breakthrough 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 earned Bath the lead in a situation he relishes, poor Du Toit gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
