Against the backdrop of one of rugby union's most storied contests, the fixture between Leicester and Bath was as much about the emotion at half-time than the rugby during the pitch.
The legendary Martin Johnson led a phalanx comprising Leicester former players in honour of Lewis Moody, after he announced his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.
When Moody wore a Leicester jersey at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, prior to joining their rivals Bath for the last two years in a distinguished playing career, the home side were more or less close to their very best, whereas Bath found themselves 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 since the 1990s.
A Truly Passionate Reception at Welford Road
The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of underdogs in their own stadium, the 18,000 Midlanders greatly inspired by Moody’s confession at half-time that, no matter where he may live, this famous ground will always be the home of his rugby heart.
In retrospect, Bath were always up against it. True to form, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, the Tigers won one last penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
The Climax
The replacement fly-half, on for the excellent James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for Leicester, darted blind, before the Bath prop caught him high, an infringement for which he received a yellow card. From the final play, Searle landed the penalty from a difficult angle to snatch a dramatic victory.
We might as well have been transported back of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, the home team, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, will be heartened that their traditional, direct approach can still yield results, regardless of the quality they face.
A Tale of Two Styles
The visitors were a different class when in possession. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period in which they fell 17-7 behind, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties against Bath put Bath on the back foot, their pack thoroughly outplayed at the set piece throughout the game.
Leicester’s three tries were carbon copies of each other, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath's three tries were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, before and after Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith forced their way over for tries just before and just after the break.
The Nail-Biting Conclusion
That earned Tigers the lead, an advantage they maintained for most of the second half. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath won enough ball to grab a fourth try. 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, successfully converted the penalty inside the final ten minutes.
That only inspired Leicester for one last, brutish assault, set up 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. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
