🔗 Share this article

Against the backdrop of a classic rugby union's most storied contests, the fixture involving Leicester and the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by the emotion at the interval as any on-field action during play.

Martin Johnson led a contingent of Leicester former players to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, who has announced his diagnosis with MND.

The last time Moody last pulled on a Leicester shirt here, 15 years ago, prior to joining their rivals Bath for the last two years of a storied career, Leicester remained still at 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 Emotional Welcome on Home Turf

Leicester, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them a classic, robust reception, relishing their status as underdogs in their own stadium, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody's heartfelt admission during the break that regardless of his residence, this famous ground remains his rugby home.

In retrospect, Bath were always up against it. True to form, during a final, desperate attack deep in Bath territory, Leicester won one last penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.

A Dramatic Climax

The replacement fly-half, on for the impressive James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for the club, took a quick tap, and the Bath prop caught him high, for which offence he saw yellow. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to snatch a dramatic victory.

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 their traditional, direct approach remains effective, regardless of the quality of the opponent.

Contrasting Styles

The visitors were a different class with ball in hand. So Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour in which they fell 17-7 behind, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties conceded by the away side put Bath on the back foot, their forwards 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 tries were studies in poetry. Dan Frost, Sam Underhill and Cameron Redpath scored the tries, before and after Cracknell's score for Tigers. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith forced their way over for tries either side of half-time.

A Tense Conclusion

Those scores gave Leicester the lead, an advantage they maintained for most of the second half. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. Actually, their scoring opportunity 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.

This merely galvanized Leicester for one last, brutish assault, initiated by the energetic Hassell-Collins on the left wing. Having won the penalty that earned Bath the lead in a situation he relishes, poor Du Toit conceded where he is not. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.