Against the backdrop of one of rugby union's greatest contests, the match involving Leicester and Bath proved to be as much about the emotion during the interval than any on-field action during play.
Martin Johnson headed a phalanx of Leicester former players in honour of the great Lewis Moody, after he announced that he has been diagnosed with MND.
The last time 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 Bath found themselves enduring a long drought devoid of championship success. Times have changed since. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, marking the first occasion they have called themselves that since the 1990s.
An Passionate Welcome on Home Turf
Leicester, on a wave of emotion, served up an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of the unfancied team on their own pitch, 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.
Looking back, Bath were always up against it. True to form, during a final, desperate attack deep in Bath territory, the Tigers managed to coax a crucial penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
The Decisive Moment
Billy Searle, on for the impressive James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for the club, darted blind, and the Bath prop caught him high, for which offence he received a yellow card. From the final play, Searle landed the penalty on an angle to snatch a dramatic victory.
We might as well have been back in the days of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, Leicester, who climb a little higher in a congested league, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach can still yield results, no matter the pedigree of the opponent.
Contrasting Styles
The visitors were a different class 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 on the back foot, their forwards comprehensively bested in the scrums and lineouts throughout the game.
Leicester’s three tries were remarkably similar, all scored from close range; Bath’s three were works of art. Dan Frost, Sam Underhill and Cameron Redpath were the finishers, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith forced their way over for tries either side of half-time.
The Tense Conclusion
That earned Tigers a narrow advantage, which they held for most of the second half. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. In fact, their scoring opportunity came with a rare penalty at the scrum, their South Africans by then on. Finn Russell, after missing two earlier kicks, landed the kick inside the final ten minutes.
This merely galvanized Leicester for one last, brutish assault, set up by the energetic Hassell-Collins down the left. 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.
