Amidst a classic rugby union's most storied contests, the fixture between the Tigers and the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by an emotional tribute during the interval than the rugby on the pitch.
Martin Johnson led a contingent comprising Leicester old boys in honour of Lewis Moody, who has revealed that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
When Moody last pulled on a Leicester shirt here, a decade and a half past, before moving to Bath for the last two years of a storied career, the home side remained still at their very best, whereas their opponents found themselves in the middle of a lengthy period without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath arrived as champions, marking the first occasion they have called themselves that in over two decades.
A Truly Emotional Welcome at Welford Road
Leicester, riding a powerful emotional surge, served up an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of 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, Welford Road remains his rugby home.
In retrospect, Bath were always up against it. True to form, during a final, desperate attack deep in Bath territory, Leicester won one last penalty out of the Bath defence.
A Dramatic Climax
Billy Searle, who replaced the impressive James O'Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his first start for Leicester, darted blind, before Thomas du Toit caught him high, for which offence he received a yellow card. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick on an angle to steal the win.
It felt like being back in the days to Lewis Moody's prime. Without a doubt, the home team, who moved up the table in a congested league, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach can still yield results, no matter the pedigree of the opponent.
A Tale of Two Styles
Bath were sublime with ball in hand. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period which saw them trail 17-7, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties conceded by Bath put Bath on the back foot, their pack thoroughly outplayed 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 studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath were the finishers, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith forced their way over to score just before and just after the break.
The Nail-Biting Finish
That earned Tigers a narrow advantage, an advantage they maintained for most of the second half. It appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball to grab a fourth try. Actually, their breakthrough arrived via an infrequent penalty in the scrum, with their South African reinforcements now on the field. The fly-half, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, landed the kick with a little less than 10 minutes to play.
This merely galvanized Leicester for one last, brutish assault, initiated by the energetic Hassell-Collins down the left. Having won the penalty that earned Bath the lead in a situation he relishes, poor Du Toit conceded where he is not. There could be only one result.
