Amidst a classic English rugby's most storied contests, this match between the Tigers versus the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by an emotional tribute at the interval as any on-field action during the pitch.
Martin Johnson headed a contingent of Leicester old boys to pay tribute to Lewis Moody, after he announced his diagnosis with MND.
When Moody last pulled on a Leicester shirt here, 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 their very best, while their opponents were situated enduring a lengthy period without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath came into the match as title holders, the first time they've held that status since the 1990s.
A Truly Passionate Welcome at Welford Road
The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as the unfancied team on their own pitch, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession during the break that regardless of his residence, this famous ground remains his rugby home.
In retrospect, Bath were always up against it. True to form, in a last-minute assault deep in Bath territory, the Tigers managed to coax a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.
A Dramatic Climax
The replacement fly-half, who replaced the impressive James O’Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his first start for the club, took a quick tap, and the Bath prop caught him high, an infringement for which he received a yellow card. With the last kick, Searle landed the penalty 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 moved up the table in a congested league, can take great encouragement that a familiar frontal assault remains effective, regardless of the quality they face.
A Tale of Two Styles
The visitors were a different class with ball in hand. Therefore, Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour in which they fell 17-7 behind, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties against Bath kept Bath on the back foot, their forwards thoroughly outplayed at the set piece throughout the game.
Leicester’s three tries were remarkably similar, all scored from close range; Bath's three tries were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath were the finishers, before and after Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith powered over for tries just before and just after the break.
A Tense Conclusion
Those scores gave Leicester the lead, which they held for most of the second half. It appeared inevitable 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. The fly-half, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, successfully converted the penalty inside the final ten minutes.
This merely galvanized Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, set up by the energetic Hassell-Collins down the left. Having won the penalty that put Bath ahead in a situation he relishes, poor Du Toit gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. There could be only one result.
