Amidst one of rugby union's most storied rivalries, this match involving Leicester versus the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by an emotion during the interval as the rugby on play.
Martin Johnson headed a contingent of Tigers former players to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, after he revealed that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
The last time Moody wore the Tigers' shirt here, 15 years ago, before moving to their rivals Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, Leicester remained still at their very best, while their opponents found themselves enduring a lengthy period without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath arrived as champions, marking the first occasion they have called themselves that since the 1990s.
An Emotional Welcome on Home Turf
The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as underdogs in their own stadium, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody's heartfelt admission at half-time that regardless of his residence, Welford Road will always be his rugby home.
Looking back, the visiting side were always up against it. Sure enough, in a last-minute assault deep in Bath territory, the Tigers won one last penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
A Dramatic Decisive Moment
Billy Searle, who replaced the impressive James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for the club, darted blind, and the Bath prop made a high tackle, for which offence he received a yellow card. With the last kick, Searle landed the penalty on an angle to steal the win.
We might as well have been transported back to Lewis Moody's prime. Certainly, Leicester, who moved up the table in the mid-table bun fight, will be heartened that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, regardless of the quality they face.
Contrasting Styles
Bath were a different class with ball in hand. So 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 kept Bath under constant pressure, their pack thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts 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 works of art. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath were the finishers, before and after Ollie Cracknell’s try for Leicester. Subsequently, on the back of those penalties, Reffell and Smith powered over for tries either side of half-time.
The Tense Conclusion
That earned Tigers 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 breakthrough arrived via an infrequent penalty in 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 down the left. Having won 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.
