Against the backdrop of a classic English rugby's greatest contests, the match involving Leicester and Bath proved to be heavily influenced by an emotion during the interval than any rugby on the pitch.
The legendary Martin Johnson headed a contingent of Tigers former players in honour of Lewis Moody, after he revealed that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
The last time Moody last pulled on the Tigers' shirt here, a decade and a half past, prior to joining Bath for the last two years in a distinguished playing career, Leicester remained still at their very best, while Bath were situated in the middle of 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 Welcome at Welford Road
The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of underdogs on their own pitch, the 18,000 Midlanders greatly inspired by Moody’s confession at half-time that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road remains the home of his rugby heart.
In retrospect, the visiting side were always up against it. Sure enough, during a final, desperate attack deep in Bath territory, Leicester won a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.
A Dramatic Climax
Billy Searle, on for the excellent James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for Leicester, darted blind, and Thomas du Toit caught him high, for which offence 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 transported back to Lewis Moody's prime. Certainly, Leicester, who moved up the table in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, no matter the pedigree they face.
Contrasting Game Plans
The visitors were sublime with ball in hand. Therefore, Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour which saw them trail 17-7, learned to deprive them of any. A deluge of penalties conceded by Bath kept Bath under constant pressure, their pack thoroughly outplayed at the set piece for most of the match.
The Tigers' three touchdowns were carbon copies of each other, all scored from close range; Bath's three tries were works of art. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, before and after Cracknell's score for Leicester. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith powered 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 the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath secured sufficient possession to score their fourth. Actually, their breakthrough arrived via an infrequent penalty at the scrum, with their South African reinforcements now on the field. 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, the unfortunate prop conceded where he is not. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
