Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's greatest contests, the fixture involving the Tigers and the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by an emotion during the interval than the rugby during play.
Martin Johnson headed a contingent comprising Tigers former players to pay tribute to Lewis Moody, who has announced his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.
When Moody wore the Tigers' shirt at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, prior to joining Bath for the last two years in a distinguished playing career, Leicester remained close to the peak of their powers, while their opponents found themselves in the middle of a long drought devoid of championship success. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath arrived as champions, the first time they've held that status since the 1990s.
An Emotional Reception on Home Turf
Leicester, on a wave of emotion, offered them a classic, robust reception, embracing the role of 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, Welford Road remains the home of his rugby heart.
Looking back, the visiting side were always up against it. True to form, during a final, desperate attack deep in Bath territory, the Tigers managed to coax one last penalty out of the Bath defence.
A Dramatic Decisive Moment
Billy Searle, who replaced the impressive James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for Leicester, took a quick tap, and Thomas du Toit caught him high, for which offence he saw yellow. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick on an angle to steal the win.
It felt like being transported back of Moody’s pomp. Certainly, the home team, who climb a little higher in a congested league, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, regardless of the quality of the opponent.
Contrasting Game Plans
Bath were a different class with ball in hand. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period which saw them trail 17-7, adapted to starve them of possession. A succession of penalties against Bath kept Bath under constant pressure, their forwards comprehensively bested in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.
Leicester’s three tries were remarkably similar, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath’s three were works of art. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, either side of Cracknell's score for Leicester. Subsequently, on the back of those penalties, Reffell and Smith forced their way over for tries either side of half-time.
A Nail-Biting Finish
That earned Tigers the lead, an advantage they maintained for the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath secured sufficient possession 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, successfully converted the penalty with a little less than 10 minutes to play.
This merely galvanized Leicester for one last, brutish assault, initiated by the energetic Hassell-Collins down the left. Having won the penalty that put Bath ahead in a situation he relishes, the unfortunate prop conceded where he is not. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.