🔗 Share this article

Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's most storied contests, this fixture between Leicester versus Bath proved to be as much about an emotion during half-time as any on-field action on play.

Martin Johnson led a phalanx comprising Leicester former players to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, who has announced his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.

When Moody wore a Leicester shirt at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, before moving to Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, Leicester were more or less close to the peak of their powers, while Bath found themselves enduring a lengthy period without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath arrived as champions, marking the first occasion they've held that status in over two decades.

A Truly Emotional Welcome on Home Turf

Leicester, on a wave of emotion, offered them a classic, robust reception, embracing the role of the unfancied team in their own stadium, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession at half-time that regardless of his residence, this famous ground will always be his rugby home.

In retrospect, the visiting side were always up against it. Sure enough, during a final, desperate attack on the Bath line, Leicester managed to coax a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.

A Dramatic Decisive Moment

The replacement fly-half, who replaced the impressive James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for Leicester, took a quick tap, before Thomas du Toit caught him high, an infringement for which he received a yellow card. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to steal the win.

We might as well have been back in the days of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, the home team, who moved up the table in a congested league, will be heartened that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, no matter the pedigree of the opponent.

Contrasting Styles

Bath were sublime with ball in hand. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period in which they fell 17-7 behind, learned to deprive them of any. A deluge of penalties against the away side put Bath on the back foot, their forwards thoroughly outplayed at the set piece for most of the match.

Leicester’s three tries were carbon copies of each other, all scored from close range; 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 the lead, an advantage they maintained for the majority of the second period. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. Actually, their breakthrough came with a rare penalty at the scrum, with their South African reinforcements now on the field. Finn Russell, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, landed the kick inside the final ten minutes.

This merely galvanized Leicester for one last, brutish assault, initiated by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins on the left wing. Having won the penalty that put Bath ahead where he is most comfortable, poor Du Toit gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. There could be only one result.