Amidst one of rugby union's greatest rivalries, this match between Leicester and Bath proved to be as much about an emotion at the interval as any on-field action on the pitch.
Martin Johnson led a contingent comprising Tigers former players to pay tribute to Lewis Moody, who has revealed his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.
The last time Moody wore the Tigers' shirt here, 15 years ago, prior to joining Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, the home side were more or less close to their very best, while their opponents found themselves enduring a long drought without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath came into the match as title holders, marking the first occasion they have called themselves that since the 1990s.
A Truly Emotional Welcome at Welford Road
The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, served up an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of the unfancied team on their own pitch, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession during the break that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road will always be his rugby home.
Looking back, Bath were always up against it. Sure enough, in a last-minute assault deep in Bath territory, Leicester managed to coax one last penalty out of the Bath defence.
The Climax
Billy Searle, who replaced the impressive James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for the club, darted blind, before 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 snatch a dramatic victory.
It felt like being back in the days of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, the home team, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that a familiar frontal assault remains effective, regardless of the quality they face.
A Tale of Two Game Plans
Bath were a different class with ball in hand. So Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour in which they fell 17-7 behind, learned to deprive them of any. A deluge of penalties conceded by Bath put Bath under constant pressure, their forwards thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.
The Tigers' three touchdowns 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, before and after Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith powered over for tries either side of half-time.
A Tense Conclusion
That earned Tigers the lead, which they held for the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. In fact, their scoring opportunity came with a rare penalty at the scrum, their South Africans by then on. The fly-half, 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 for one last, brutish assault, initiated by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins on the left wing. Having won 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.
