Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's greatest rivalries, this match involving the Tigers versus the visitors was heavily influenced by an emotion during the interval as any on-field action during play.
Martin Johnson led a phalanx of Tigers former players to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, who has revealed that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
The last time Moody wore a Leicester shirt at Welford Road, 15 years ago, before moving to Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, the home side remained close to the peak of their powers, whereas Bath 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, marking the first occasion they have called themselves that in over two decades.
An Passionate Welcome on Home Turf
Leicester, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as the unfancied team in their own stadium, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession during the break that, no matter where he may live, this famous ground remains the home of his rugby heart.
Looking back, Bath were always up against it. True to form, 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
The replacement fly-half, who replaced the impressive James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for Leicester, took a quick tap, and Thomas du Toit made a high tackle, for which offence he received a yellow card. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to steal the win.
It felt like being transported back of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, the home team, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, will be heartened that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, regardless of the quality they face.
A Tale of Two Game Plans
The visitors were a different class when in possession. 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 put Bath under constant pressure, their forwards comprehensively bested at the set piece for most of the match.
The Tigers' three touchdowns were remarkably similar, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath’s three were works of art. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, before and after Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith powered over to score just before and just after the break.
The Nail-Biting Finish
That earned Tigers the lead, an advantage they maintained for the majority of the second period. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath secured sufficient possession to grab a fourth try. Actually, their breakthrough arrived via an infrequent penalty in the scrum, their South Africans by then on. 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 for one last, brutish assault, initiated by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins on the left wing. 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.
