Amidst one of rugby union's greatest rivalries, the fixture between Leicester and Bath proved to be heavily influenced by the emotion at half-time as the on-field action during the pitch.
The legendary Martin Johnson headed a phalanx comprising Tigers former players to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, after he revealed that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
When Moody wore a Leicester shirt here, a decade and a half past, before moving to their rivals Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, the home side remained close to their very best, whereas their opponents found themselves in the middle of 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 in over two decades.
A Truly Passionate Welcome at Welford Road
Leicester, on a wave of emotion, served up a classic, robust reception, relishing their status as underdogs on their own pitch, 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 his rugby home.
Looking back, the visiting side were always up against it. True to form, during a final, desperate attack on the Bath line, Leicester managed to coax one last penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
The Decisive Moment
The replacement fly-half, who replaced the excellent James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut 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 slotted the penalty kick on an angle to snatch a dramatic victory.
It felt like being transported back of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, Leicester, who climb a little higher in a congested league, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach can still yield results, regardless of the quality they face.
Contrasting Styles
The visitors were a different class when in possession. Therefore, Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour in which they fell 17-7 behind, learned to deprive them of any. A deluge 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 were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Leicester. Subsequently, on the back of those penalties, Reffell and Smith powered over to score just before and just after the break.
A Tense Conclusion
That earned Tigers the lead, 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. In fact, their scoring opportunity came with a rare penalty in the scrum, their South Africans by then on. Finn Russell, 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. After earning the penalty that earned Bath the lead in a situation he relishes, the unfortunate prop gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
