Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's most storied contests, this match between Leicester and the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by an emotional tribute during half-time than any rugby on play.
The legendary Martin Johnson led a contingent comprising Leicester former players in honour of Lewis Moody, who has announced that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
The last time Moody last pulled on the Tigers' jersey here, a decade and a half past, prior to joining their rivals Bath for his final two seasons in a distinguished playing career, the home side were more or less close to the peak of their powers, while Bath found themselves in the middle of a long drought without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals came into the match as title holders, the first time they've held that status in over two decades.
An Emotional Welcome at Welford Road
The Tigers, on a wave of emotion, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd further emboldened by Moody's heartfelt admission at half-time that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road remains his rugby home.
In retrospect, the visiting side were always up against it. True to form, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, the Tigers won a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.
The Decisive Moment
The replacement fly-half, on for the excellent James O'Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his debut start for the club, took a quick tap, before Thomas du Toit caught him high, for which offence he received a yellow card. 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 to Lewis Moody's prime. Without a doubt, the home team, who moved up the table in a congested league, will be heartened that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, regardless of the quality of the opponent.
Contrasting Styles
The visitors were sublime with ball in hand. Therefore, Leicester, following a confusing opening period which saw them trail 17-7, learned to deprive them of any. A deluge of penalties against the away side put Bath on the back foot, their forwards thoroughly outplayed 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 were works of art. Dan Frost, Sam Underhill and Cameron Redpath were the finishers, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Subsequently, on the back of those penalties, Reffell and Smith forced their way over for tries just before and just after the break.
The Nail-Biting Finish
Those scores gave Leicester the lead, an advantage they maintained for the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball 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, successfully converted the penalty with a little less than 10 minutes to play.
This merely galvanized Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, initiated by the lively Ollie 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. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
