Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's most storied rivalries, the match involving the Tigers versus Bath proved to be as much about the emotion at half-time than the on-field action on play.
The legendary Martin Johnson headed a contingent of Leicester former players in honour of Lewis Moody, after he announced that he has been diagnosed with MND.
The last time Moody last pulled on a Leicester jersey at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, before moving to Bath for his final two seasons in a distinguished playing career, Leicester were more or less still at their very best, whereas their opponents were situated in the middle of a long drought without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, the first time they have called themselves that since the 1990s.
An Emotional Welcome on Home Turf
Leicester, riding a powerful emotional surge, served up an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd further emboldened 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, the visiting side were always up against it. Sure enough, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, Leicester won a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.
The Climax
Billy Searle, on for the excellent James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for the club, darted blind, and the Bath prop caught him high, for which offence he received a yellow card. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to snatch a dramatic victory.
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, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, no matter the pedigree they face.
Contrasting Styles
The visitors were sublime with ball in hand. Therefore, Leicester, following a confusing opening period which saw them trail 17-7, adapted to starve them of possession. A succession of penalties against the away side kept Bath under constant pressure, their pack thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.
The Tigers' three touchdowns were remarkably similar, all scored from close range; Bath's three tries 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, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith forced their way over for tries either side of half-time.
A Tense Finish
That earned Tigers the lead, an advantage they maintained for most of the second half. It appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. In fact, 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, landed the kick inside the final ten minutes.
This merely galvanized Leicester for one last, brutish assault, initiated by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins on the left wing. Having won the penalty that earned Bath the lead where he is most comfortable, the unfortunate prop gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
