Amidst a classic English rugby's most storied rivalries, the fixture involving Leicester and the visitors was as much about the emotional tribute during half-time as the on-field action on play.
Martin Johnson headed a phalanx comprising Leicester old boys in honour of Lewis Moody, after he announced his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.
When Moody last pulled on the Tigers' shirt 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 still at their very best, whereas Bath were situated enduring a lengthy period devoid of championship success. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath came into the match as title holders, the first time they've held that status since the 1990s.
An Emotional Reception on Home Turf
The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd 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.
Looking back, Bath were always up against it. True to form, during a final, desperate attack deep in Bath territory, Leicester managed to coax a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.
A Dramatic Decisive Moment
The replacement fly-half, who replaced the impressive James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for Leicester, took a quick tap, before the Bath prop made a high tackle, for which offence he saw yellow. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick on an angle to steal the win.
It felt like being back in the days to Lewis Moody's prime. Certainly, the home team, who climb a little higher in a congested league, will be heartened that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, no matter the pedigree of the opponent.
Contrasting Game Plans
Bath were a different class when in possession. 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 kept Bath under constant pressure, their forwards thoroughly outplayed at the set piece for most of the match.
Leicester’s three tries were remarkably similar, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath’s three were studies in poetry. Dan Frost, Sam Underhill and Cameron Redpath were the finishers, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Leicester. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith powered over to score just before and just after the break.
The Nail-Biting Conclusion
Those scores gave Leicester a narrow advantage, an advantage they maintained for the majority of the second period. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath secured sufficient possession to grab a fourth try. In fact, their scoring opportunity 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 with a little less than 10 minutes to play.
This merely galvanized Leicester for one last, brutish assault, set up by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins on the left wing. After earning the penalty that earned Bath the lead in a situation he relishes, the unfortunate prop gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. There could be only one result.
