Amidst a classic rugby union's greatest rivalries, the fixture between the Tigers and the visitors was heavily influenced by the emotion during the interval than any rugby on play.
Martin Johnson led a contingent of Leicester former players in honour of the great Lewis Moody, who has revealed that he has been diagnosed with MND.
The last time Moody last pulled on the Tigers' jersey at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, before moving to their rivals Bath for his final two seasons in a distinguished playing career, the home side remained still at the peak of their powers, while their opponents were situated in the middle of a long drought without the title. Times have changed since. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, the first time they've held that status in over two decades.
A Truly Passionate Welcome at Welford Road
The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, served up an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of the unfancied team in their own stadium, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession at half-time that regardless of his residence, Welford Road remains his rugby home.
In retrospect, Bath were always up against it. Sure enough, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, Leicester managed to coax a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.
The Decisive Moment
Billy Searle, on for the impressive James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for Leicester, took a quick tap, before Thomas du Toit caught him high, an infringement for which he saw yellow. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to steal the win.
We might as well have been back in the days of Moody’s pomp. Certainly, the home team, who moved up the table in a congested league, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, regardless of the quality they face.
Contrasting Game Plans
The visitors were sublime with ball in hand. Therefore, Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour in which they fell 17-7 behind, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties against the away side put Bath under constant pressure, their pack comprehensively bested in the scrums and lineouts throughout the game.
Leicester’s three tries were carbon copies of each other, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath's three tries were studies in poetry. Dan Frost, Sam Underhill and Cameron Redpath were the finishers, before and after Cracknell's score for Leicester. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Tommy Reffell and Nicky 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 the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball to grab a fourth try. In fact, 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.
This merely galvanized Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, initiated by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins down the left. After earning the penalty that earned Bath the lead where he is most comfortable, the unfortunate prop conceded where he is not. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.