Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's greatest contests, this fixture between Leicester and the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by the emotion during the interval than any rugby on play.
Martin Johnson led a contingent of Tigers former players to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, after he announced his diagnosis with MND.
When Moody last pulled on the Tigers' jersey at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, prior to joining Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, Leicester were more or less still at the peak of their powers, while their opponents found themselves in the middle of a long drought without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath came into the match as title holders, the first time they have called themselves that since the 1990s.
A Truly Passionate Reception on Home Turf
The Tigers, on a wave of emotion, offered them a classic, robust reception, relishing their status as underdogs on their own pitch, the 18,000 Midlanders further emboldened by Moody's heartfelt admission during the break that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road remains the home of his rugby heart.
Looking back, the visiting side did not stand a chance. Sure enough, in a last-minute assault deep in Bath territory, the Tigers won a crucial penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
The Climax
Billy Searle, who replaced the excellent James O'Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his first start for Leicester, took a quick tap, and the Bath prop caught him high, for which offence he received a yellow card. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to snatch a dramatic victory.
We might as well have been transported back of Moody’s pomp. Certainly, the home team, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, will be heartened that their traditional, direct approach can still yield results, no matter the pedigree they face.
A Tale of Two Styles
The visitors were sublime with ball in hand. Therefore, Leicester, following a confusing opening period which saw them trail 17-7, learned to deprive them of any. A deluge of penalties conceded by the away side put Bath on the back foot, their pack thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.
The Tigers' three touchdowns were remarkably similar, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath’s three were studies in poetry. Dan Frost, Sam Underhill and Cameron Redpath were the finishers, before and after Cracknell's score for Tigers. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith forced their way over to score just before and just after the break.
A Tense Finish
Those scores gave Leicester a narrow advantage, an advantage they maintained for most of the second half. It appeared inevitable before Bath secured sufficient possession to grab a fourth try. In fact, their breakthrough arrived via an infrequent penalty at the scrum, their South Africans by then on. The fly-half, after missing two earlier kicks, landed the kick with a little less than 10 minutes to play.
That only inspired Leicester for one last, brutish assault, set up by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins on the left wing. Having won the penalty that earned Bath the lead where he is most comfortable, poor Du Toit gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. There could be only one result.
