Amidst one of English rugby's greatest contests, this fixture between the Tigers and Bath was as much about an emotion at the interval as the rugby on play.
Martin Johnson headed a phalanx comprising Tigers former players to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, after he announced that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
When Moody last pulled on a Leicester shirt here, 15 years ago, before moving to Bath for the last two years of a storied career, Leicester were more or less close to the peak of their powers, whereas Bath found themselves enduring a long drought devoid of championship success. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, the first time they've held that status since the 1990s.
A Truly Passionate Reception on Home Turf
Leicester, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of underdogs in their own stadium, the 18,000 Midlanders 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.
In retrospect, Bath did not stand a chance. Sure enough, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, the Tigers won a crucial penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
The Climax
The replacement fly-half, who replaced the excellent James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for the club, darted blind, before the Bath prop made a high tackle, for which offence he received a yellow card. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to steal the win.
It felt like being transported back of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, Leicester, who moved up the table in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach can still yield results, no matter the pedigree they face.
Contrasting Game Plans
The visitors 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 conceded by the away side kept Bath under constant pressure, their pack comprehensively bested in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.
Leicester’s three tries were carbon copies of each other, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath’s three were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, either side of Cracknell's score 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.
A Nail-Biting Finish
That earned Tigers a narrow advantage, 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 came with a rare penalty in the scrum, their South Africans by then on. Finn Russell, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, successfully converted the penalty inside the final ten minutes.
That only inspired 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 where he is most comfortable, poor Du Toit conceded where he is not. There could be only one result.
