Against the backdrop of one of rugby union's most storied contests, this match between Leicester versus Bath was heavily influenced by an emotion at half-time as the rugby on play.
The legendary Martin Johnson led a phalanx of Tigers old boys to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, after he revealed that he has been diagnosed 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 the last two years of a storied career, Leicester were more or less still at the peak of their powers, while their opponents were situated in the middle of a long drought devoid of championship success. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals came into the match as title holders, marking the first occasion they've held that status since the 1990s.
An Passionate Reception at Welford Road
The Tigers, on a wave of emotion, served up an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd further emboldened by Moody’s confession during the break that regardless of his residence, this famous ground will always be his rugby home.
In retrospect, Bath were always up against it. Sure enough, during a final, desperate attack deep in Bath territory, Leicester won a crucial penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
The Decisive Moment
The replacement fly-half, on for the excellent James O’Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his first start for the club, darted blind, and Thomas du Toit made a high tackle, an infringement for which he saw yellow. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to snatch a dramatic victory.
We might as well have been back in the days to Lewis Moody's prime. Without a doubt, Leicester, who moved up the table in a congested league, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach can still yield results, regardless of the quality of the opponent.
A Tale of Two Game Plans
Bath were sublime with ball in hand. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period 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 pack comprehensively bested in the scrums and lineouts throughout the game.
Leicester’s three tries were remarkably similar, all scored from close range; Bath's three tries were studies in poetry. Dan Frost, Sam Underhill and Cameron Redpath scored the tries, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith forced their way over for tries 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 appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. 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, 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 earned Bath the lead in a situation he relishes, poor Du Toit conceded where he is not. There could be only one result.
