Amidst one of rugby union's greatest rivalries, the fixture involving the Tigers and Bath proved to be heavily influenced by the emotional tribute at half-time as the rugby on play.
The legendary Martin Johnson headed a phalanx of Leicester former players in honour of the great Lewis Moody, after he announced that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
The last time Moody last pulled on a Leicester shirt here, a decade and a half past, prior to joining their rivals Bath for the last two years of a storied career, the home side remained still at the peak of their powers, whereas their opponents 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 in over two decades.
An Passionate Reception on Home Turf
The Tigers, on a wave of emotion, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as the unfancied team on their own pitch, the large home crowd further emboldened by Moody’s confession at half-time that regardless of his residence, this famous ground will always be the home of his rugby heart.
Looking back, the visiting side were always up against it. True to form, in a last-minute assault deep in Bath territory, Leicester managed to coax one last penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
The Decisive Moment
The replacement fly-half, on for the impressive James O’Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his first start for the club, took a quick tap, and the Bath prop made a high tackle, an infringement for which he saw yellow. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to steal the win.
It felt like being back in the days of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, the home team, who moved up the table in a congested league, will be heartened that a familiar frontal assault remains effective, no matter the pedigree of the opponent.
A Tale of Two Styles
Bath were a different class with ball in hand. So Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour which saw them trail 17-7, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties against Bath kept Bath on the back foot, their forwards comprehensively bested in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.
Leicester’s three tries 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, before and after Ollie Cracknell’s try for Leicester. Subsequently, on the back of those penalties, Reffell and Smith forced their way over to score either side of half-time.
The Nail-Biting Finish
That earned Tigers the lead, 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 arrived via an infrequent penalty in the scrum, their South Africans by then on. Finn Russell, after missing two earlier kicks, landed the kick with a little less than 10 minutes to play.
This merely galvanized Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, initiated by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins down the left. Having won the penalty that earned Bath the lead in a situation he relishes, poor Du Toit gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
