Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's most storied rivalries, the fixture between Leicester and the visitors proved to be heavily influenced by the emotion at half-time than the rugby on play.
The legendary Martin Johnson headed a phalanx of Tigers old boys in honour of the great Lewis Moody, who has announced that he has been diagnosed with MND.
When Moody last pulled on a Leicester shirt here, a decade and a half past, before moving to their rivals Bath for the last two years in a distinguished playing career, the home side remained close to their very best, whereas their opponents were situated enduring a long drought without the title. Times have changed since. Bath came into the match as title holders, marking the first occasion they've held that status since the 1990s.
An Passionate Welcome on Home Turf
Leicester, on a wave of emotion, served up an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd further emboldened by Moody's heartfelt admission during the break that, no matter where he may live, this famous ground will always be his rugby home.
Looking back, Bath did not stand a chance. Sure enough, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, Leicester managed to coax a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.
A Dramatic Decisive Moment
Billy Searle, on for the excellent James O'Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his debut start for Leicester, took a quick tap, before 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.
It felt like being back in the days of Moody’s pomp. Certainly, the home team, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, will be heartened that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, regardless of the quality of the opponent.
A Tale of Two Game Plans
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 against the away side kept Bath under constant pressure, their pack comprehensively bested 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 tries were studies in poetry. Dan Frost, Sam Underhill and Cameron Redpath scored the tries, before and after Ollie Cracknell’s try 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 Nail-Biting Conclusion
Those scores gave Leicester a narrow advantage, 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 scoring opportunity arrived via an infrequent penalty at the scrum, with their South African reinforcements now on the field. Finn Russell, after missing two earlier kicks, 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 down the left. Having won the penalty that put Bath ahead in a situation he relishes, the unfortunate prop conceded where he is not. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
