Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's greatest contests, this fixture between the Tigers and the visitors proved to be as much about the emotional tribute at the interval than any on-field action on the pitch.
The legendary Martin Johnson led a contingent comprising Leicester former players to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, after he revealed his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.
When Moody last pulled on the Tigers' jersey at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, before moving to their rivals Bath for the last two years of a storied career, Leicester were more or less close to the peak of their powers, whereas Bath found themselves enduring a lengthy period devoid of championship success. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, the first time they've held that status since the 1990s.
A Truly Emotional Welcome on Home Turf
Leicester, on a wave of emotion, served up 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 at half-time that regardless of his residence, Welford Road will always be the home of his rugby heart.
Looking back, Bath did not stand a chance. Sure enough, during a final, desperate attack on the Bath line, Leicester managed to coax a crucial penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
A Dramatic Decisive Moment
Billy Searle, who replaced the impressive James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for Leicester, darted blind, and Thomas du Toit caught him high, an infringement for which he saw yellow. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick on an angle to steal the win.
It felt like being transported back to Lewis Moody's prime. Without a doubt, the home team, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, will be heartened that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, regardless of the quality of the opponent.
Contrasting Game Plans
The visitors were a different class when in possession. So Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour in which they fell 17-7 behind, learned to deprive them of any. A deluge of penalties conceded by Bath put Bath under constant pressure, their pack thoroughly outplayed at the set piece for most of the match.
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 scored the tries, before and after Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Then, on the back of those penalties, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith forced their way over to score just before and just after the break.
The Tense Finish
Those scores gave Leicester the lead, which they held for the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath secured sufficient possession to score their fourth. In fact, their breakthrough came with a rare penalty in 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.
This merely galvanized Leicester for one last, brutish assault, set up by the lively Ollie 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.
