Amidst a classic English rugby's greatest rivalries, the fixture involving Leicester and Bath proved to be heavily influenced by the emotional tribute at the interval than the rugby on the pitch.
Martin Johnson headed a contingent comprising Tigers old boys in honour of Lewis Moody, who has announced his diagnosis with MND.
When Moody last pulled on the Tigers' jersey at Welford Road, 15 years ago, prior to joining their rivals Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, Leicester were more or less still at their very best, while their opponents were situated enduring a long drought without the title. Times have changed since. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, marking the first occasion they have called themselves that since the 1990s.
An Passionate Welcome at Welford Road
Leicester, on a wave of emotion, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd further emboldened by Moody’s confession during the break that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road will always be the home of his rugby heart.
In retrospect, the visiting side were always up against it. True to form, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, Leicester won a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.
The Decisive Moment
The replacement fly-half, who replaced the excellent James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for the club, took a quick tap, and 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 snatch a dramatic victory.
We might as well have been back in the days to Lewis Moody's prime. Certainly, Leicester, who climb a little higher in a congested league, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, regardless of the quality of the opponent.
Contrasting Game Plans
Bath were a different class with ball in hand. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period which saw them trail 17-7, learned to deprive them of any. A deluge of penalties conceded by Bath kept Bath on the back foot, their forwards thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts 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 tries were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath were the finishers, before and after Cracknell's score for Leicester. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith powered over to score either side of half-time.
A Tense Finish
Those scores gave Leicester a narrow advantage, which they held for most of the second half. It appeared inevitable before Bath secured sufficient possession to grab a fourth try. In fact, their breakthrough came with a rare penalty in the scrum, their South Africans by then on. The fly-half, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, 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. After earning the penalty that earned Bath the lead in a situation he relishes, poor Du Toit gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. There could be only one result.
