Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's greatest contests, the fixture between Leicester and the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by an emotion at the interval as any rugby on play.
The legendary Martin Johnson led a contingent comprising Leicester former players in honour of the great Lewis Moody, who has revealed that he has been diagnosed with MND.
When Moody last pulled on a Leicester shirt at Welford Road, 15 years ago, before moving to 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, whereas their opponents found themselves enduring a long drought without the title. Times have changed since. Bath came into the match as title holders, the first time they've held that status since the 1990s.
An Emotional Welcome on Home Turf
Leicester, 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 during the break that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road will always be the home of his rugby heart.
In retrospect, Bath were always up against it. Sure enough, during a final, desperate attack on the Bath line, the Tigers won a crucial penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
A Dramatic Climax
Billy Searle, who replaced the impressive James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for Leicester, took a quick tap, and Thomas du Toit made a high tackle, an infringement for which 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 back in the days to Lewis Moody's prime. Without a doubt, Leicester, who moved up the table in the mid-table bun fight, will be heartened that a familiar frontal assault remains effective, regardless of the quality they face.
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 the away side kept Bath on the back foot, their forwards thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.
The Tigers' three touchdowns were carbon copies of each other, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath’s three were works of art. Dan Frost, Sam Underhill and Cameron Redpath were the finishers, before and after Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Subsequently, on the back of those penalties, Reffell and Smith forced their way over to score just before and just after the break.
The Nail-Biting Conclusion
Those scores gave Leicester the lead, an advantage they maintained for most of the second half. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath secured sufficient possession to grab a fourth try. Actually, their scoring opportunity arrived via an infrequent penalty at the scrum, their South Africans by then on. Finn Russell, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, landed the kick with a little less than 10 minutes to play.
That only inspired Leicester for one last, brutish assault, initiated by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins down the left. Having won the penalty that put Bath ahead where he is most comfortable, the unfortunate prop conceded where he is not. There could be only one result.
