Amidst one of English rugby's greatest rivalries, the match involving Leicester and the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by an emotional tribute during half-time as any on-field action on the pitch.
Martin Johnson headed a contingent comprising Tigers old boys in honour of the great Lewis Moody, after he revealed that he has been diagnosed with MND.
When Moody last pulled on a Leicester shirt here, a decade and a half past, prior to joining Bath for the last two years of a storied career, the home side remained still at their very best, while their opponents found themselves enduring a long drought devoid of championship success. Times have changed since. The Tigers’ great rivals came into the match as title holders, marking the first occasion they have called themselves that in over two decades.
An Emotional Reception on Home Turf
Leicester, riding a powerful emotional surge, served up an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of the unfancied team on their own pitch, the 18,000 Midlanders greatly inspired by Moody's heartfelt admission at half-time that regardless of his residence, Welford Road will always be the home of his rugby heart.
In retrospect, the visiting side did not stand a chance. True to form, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, Leicester managed to coax one last penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
A Dramatic Climax
The replacement fly-half, who replaced the excellent James O’Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his first start for the club, darted blind, before the Bath prop caught him high, for which offence he received a yellow card. From the final play, Searle landed the penalty from a difficult angle to steal the win.
We might as well have been back in the days to Lewis Moody's prime. Certainly, the home team, who moved up the table in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, regardless of the quality of the opponent.
A Tale of Two Styles
Bath were a different class when in possession. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period which saw them trail 17-7, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties against Bath kept Bath under constant pressure, their forwards comprehensively bested at the set piece for most of the match.
The Tigers' three touchdowns 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 scored the tries, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Leicester. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith forced their way over to score either side of half-time.
The Tense Conclusion
Those scores gave Leicester a narrow advantage, an advantage they maintained for most of the second half. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath secured sufficient possession to score their fourth. Actually, their breakthrough arrived via an infrequent penalty at the scrum, with their South African reinforcements now on the field. The fly-half, after missing two earlier kicks, successfully converted the penalty with a little less than 10 minutes to play.
That only inspired Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, initiated by the energetic Hassell-Collins down the left. Having won the penalty that put Bath ahead where he is most comfortable, poor Du Toit gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
