Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's most storied contests, this fixture involving the Tigers and Bath was heavily influenced by an emotional tribute at half-time as the rugby on the pitch.
The legendary Martin Johnson led a phalanx of Tigers former players to pay tribute to Lewis Moody, after he revealed his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.
The last time Moody last pulled on the Tigers' jersey at Welford Road, 15 years ago, before moving to Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, the home side were more or less still at their very best, while their opponents were situated enduring a long drought devoid of championship success. Times have changed since. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, marking the first occasion they've held that status in over two decades.
An Passionate Reception at Welford Road
The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them a classic, robust reception, 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, Welford Road remains his rugby home.
In retrospect, Bath were always up against it. True to form, in a last-minute assault deep in Bath territory, the Tigers won one last penalty out of the Bath defence.
A Dramatic Decisive Moment
The replacement fly-half, who replaced the impressive James O'Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his first start for the club, darted blind, and the Bath prop caught him high, for which offence he saw yellow. From the final play, Searle landed the penalty from a difficult angle to snatch a dramatic victory.
It felt like being transported back of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, Leicester, who moved up the table in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, regardless of the quality of the opponent.
Contrasting Styles
The visitors were sublime when in possession. Therefore, Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour which saw them trail 17-7, learned to deprive them of any. A deluge of penalties conceded by the away side put Bath under constant pressure, their forwards thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.
Leicester’s three tries 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, before and after Cracknell's score for Leicester. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith forced their way over for tries either side of half-time.
The Tense Conclusion
Those scores gave Leicester a narrow advantage, 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 arrived via an infrequent penalty at the scrum, their South Africans by then on. Finn Russell, 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 on the left wing. Having won 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.
