Amidst a classic rugby union's greatest contests, this fixture involving the Tigers and the visitors was as much about an emotional tribute during the interval as any rugby on play.
Martin Johnson headed a contingent comprising Leicester former players to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, after he announced his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.
When Moody wore the Tigers' jersey at Welford Road, 15 years ago, prior to joining Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, Leicester remained close to their very best, while Bath were situated enduring a long drought without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath arrived as champions, the first time they've held that status since the 1990s.
An Emotional Welcome on Home Turf
Leicester, on a wave of emotion, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody's heartfelt admission during the break that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road will always be his rugby home.
In retrospect, the visiting side did not stand a chance. Sure enough, during a final, desperate attack deep in Bath territory, Leicester won one last penalty out of the Bath defence.
The 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, before Thomas du Toit caught him high, for which offence he received a yellow card. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick on an angle to steal the win.
It felt like being transported back of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, 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 they face.
A Tale of Two Game Plans
The visitors were a different class with ball in hand. Therefore, Leicester, following a confusing opening period in which they fell 17-7 behind, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties conceded by the away side kept Bath under constant pressure, their pack thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts throughout the game.
The Tigers' three touchdowns were carbon copies of each other, all scored from close range; Bath’s three were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath were the finishers, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Leicester. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith powered over for tries just before and just after the break.
A Tense Finish
Those scores gave Leicester a narrow advantage, which they held for most of the second half. It appeared inevitable before Bath secured sufficient possession to grab a fourth try. In fact, their breakthrough came with a rare penalty in the scrum, their South Africans by then on. The fly-half, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, successfully converted the penalty inside the final ten minutes.
That only inspired Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, set up by the energetic Hassell-Collins down the left. After earning 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.
