Amidst a classic English rugby's greatest rivalries, this fixture involving the Tigers versus Bath proved to be heavily influenced by the emotion at half-time as the rugby during the pitch.
Martin Johnson led a phalanx comprising Tigers former players in honour of the great Lewis Moody, who has revealed that he has been diagnosed with MND.
The last time Moody last pulled on the Tigers' jersey here, a decade and a half past, before moving to their rivals Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, Leicester were more or less close to their very best, whereas Bath were situated in the middle of a lengthy period devoid of championship success. Times have changed since. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, the first time they've held that status since the 1990s.
An Emotional Welcome at Welford Road
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 heartfelt admission at half-time that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road will always be the home of his rugby heart.
In retrospect, the visiting side did not stand a chance. True to form, during a final, desperate attack on the Bath line, Leicester won a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.
The Decisive Moment
Billy Searle, who replaced the excellent James O’Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his debut start for the club, darted blind, and the Bath prop caught him high, for which offence he saw yellow. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to steal the win.
It felt like being transported back to Lewis Moody's prime. Without a doubt, Leicester, who moved up the table in a congested league, can take great encouragement that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, no matter the pedigree they face.
Contrasting Game Plans
The visitors were a different class with ball in hand. So 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 Bath kept Bath on the back foot, their pack comprehensively bested in the scrums and lineouts throughout the game.
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, before and after Cracknell's score for Leicester. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith powered over for tries either side of half-time.
A Tense Finish
Those scores gave Leicester the lead, which they held for the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath secured sufficient possession to score their fourth. Actually, their breakthrough came with a rare penalty at the scrum, their South Africans by then on. Finn Russell, 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 down the left. 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.
