Amidst one of rugby union's greatest rivalries, the fixture between the Tigers versus the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by an emotion at the interval as any on-field action during play.
Martin Johnson led a contingent comprising Leicester former players in honour of the great Lewis Moody, who has announced that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
When Moody last pulled on the Tigers' shirt here, a decade and a half past, before moving to their rivals Bath for his final two seasons in a distinguished playing career, Leicester remained still at their very best, whereas Bath were situated enduring a lengthy period devoid of championship success. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals came into the match as title holders, marking the first occasion they've held that status since the 1990s.
An Emotional Reception at Welford Road
Leicester, on a wave of emotion, served up an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession at half-time that regardless of his residence, Welford Road remains his rugby home.
Looking back, the visiting side were always up against it. True to form, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, the Tigers won one last penalty out of the Bath defence.
A Dramatic Decisive Moment
The replacement fly-half, who replaced the excellent James O’Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his debut start for Leicester, darted blind, before the Bath prop made a high tackle, for which offence he saw yellow. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to snatch a dramatic victory.
We might as well have been transported back of Moody’s pomp. Certainly, Leicester, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that a familiar frontal assault remains effective, regardless of the quality of the opponent.
Contrasting Styles
The visitors were a different class with ball in hand. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period in which they fell 17-7 behind, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties conceded by Bath put Bath under constant pressure, their forwards thoroughly outplayed at the set piece for most of the match.
The Tigers' three touchdowns were remarkably similar, all scored from close range; Bath’s three were works of art. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith forced their way over to score either side of half-time.
A Nail-Biting Finish
That earned Tigers a narrow advantage, which they held for the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball to grab a fourth try. Actually, their scoring opportunity came with a rare penalty at the scrum, with their South African reinforcements now on the field. The fly-half, after missing two earlier kicks, landed the kick with a little less than 10 minutes to play.
This merely galvanized Leicester for one last, brutish assault, set up by the energetic Hassell-Collins on the left wing. After earning the penalty that put Bath ahead where he is most comfortable, the unfortunate prop gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. There could be only one result.
