Amidst one of rugby union's greatest rivalries, the match between the Tigers and Bath proved to be heavily influenced by an emotion at the interval as any rugby during the pitch.
Martin Johnson headed a phalanx comprising Tigers old boys to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, who has announced his diagnosis with MND.
When Moody last pulled on a Leicester shirt 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 the peak of their powers, while their opponents were situated in the middle of a lengthy period devoid of championship success. Times have changed since. The Tigers’ great rivals came into the match as title holders, marking the first occasion they've held that status in over two decades.
A Truly Passionate Welcome at Welford Road
The Tigers, on a wave of emotion, served up an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of the unfancied team in their own stadium, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession at half-time that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road remains the home of his rugby heart.
In retrospect, the visiting side were always up against it. True to form, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, the Tigers won a crucial penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
A Dramatic Climax
The replacement fly-half, on for the impressive James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for Leicester, darted blind, before Thomas du Toit caught him high, for which offence he received a yellow card. From the final play, Searle landed the penalty on an angle to steal the win.
We might as well have been back in the days to Lewis Moody's prime. Certainly, the home team, who moved up the table in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, no matter the pedigree of the opponent.
Contrasting Styles
The visitors were a different class when in possession. Therefore, Leicester, following a confusing opening period which saw them trail 17-7, learned to deprive them of any. A succession of penalties against Bath kept Bath on the back foot, their forwards thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts throughout the game.
Leicester’s three tries were carbon copies of each other, all scored from close range; Bath's three tries were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, either side of Cracknell's score for Tigers. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith forced their way over to score just before and just after the break.
A Nail-Biting Finish
That earned Tigers a narrow advantage, an advantage they maintained for the majority of the second period. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath won enough ball to grab a fourth try. Actually, their scoring opportunity arrived via an infrequent penalty in 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.
This merely galvanized Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, initiated by the energetic Hassell-Collins down the left. Having won the penalty that put Bath ahead where he is most comfortable, poor Du Toit gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
