Amidst one of rugby union's most storied rivalries, this fixture involving Leicester versus the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by the emotion during the interval as any rugby during the pitch.
Martin Johnson headed a contingent of Leicester old boys to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, who has revealed that he has been diagnosed with MND.
When Moody last pulled on a Leicester jersey at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, prior to joining Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, the home side remained still at their very best, while Bath were situated enduring 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 since the 1990s.
A Truly Emotional Reception on Home Turf
The Tigers, on a wave of emotion, served up an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd further emboldened by Moody's heartfelt admission at half-time that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road remains his rugby home.
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
Billy Searle, on for the impressive James O’Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his debut start for Leicester, took a quick tap, and the Bath prop made a high tackle, for which offence he received a yellow card. With the last kick, 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, Leicester, 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 they face.
A Tale of Two Styles
The visitors 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 succession of penalties conceded by the away side put Bath under constant pressure, their pack comprehensively bested 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 were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, either side of Cracknell's score for Tigers. Subsequently, on the back of those penalties, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith forced their way over for tries just before and just after the break.
A Tense Conclusion
Those scores gave Leicester the lead, which they held for the majority of the second period. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. Actually, their breakthrough came with a rare 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 where he is most comfortable, poor Du Toit gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
