🔗 Share this article

Against the backdrop of a classic English rugby's most storied contests, this fixture between the Tigers and Bath proved to be as much about an emotional tribute at the interval as any on-field action during play.

Martin Johnson headed a phalanx of Tigers old boys in honour of Lewis Moody, who has announced that he has been diagnosed with MND.

When Moody wore the Tigers' shirt here, a decade and a half past, before moving to their rivals Bath for the last two years of a storied career, the home side remained close to their very best, 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, marking the first occasion they have called themselves that since the 1990s.

A Truly Emotional Welcome on Home Turf

The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession at half-time that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road remains the home of his rugby heart.

Looking back, Bath were always up against it. True to form, in a last-minute assault deep in Bath territory, Leicester won one last penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.

A Dramatic Climax

The replacement fly-half, who replaced the excellent James O'Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his first start for the club, took a quick tap, before Thomas du Toit made a high tackle, an infringement for which he received a yellow card. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick on an angle to snatch a dramatic victory.

It felt like being transported back to Lewis Moody's prime. Without a doubt, Leicester, who climb a little higher in a congested league, will be heartened that their traditional, direct approach can still yield results, regardless of the quality they face.

Contrasting Styles

Bath were a different class 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 succession of penalties conceded by the away side put Bath under constant pressure, their forwards comprehensively bested in the scrums and lineouts throughout the game.

Leicester’s three tries were carbon copies of each other, all scored from close range; Bath's three tries were works of art. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath were the finishers, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Then, on the back of those penalties, Reffell and Smith powered over to score just before and just after the break.

The Nail-Biting Finish

Those scores gave Leicester a narrow advantage, 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. In fact, their scoring opportunity came with a rare penalty at the scrum, their South Africans by then on. The fly-half, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, 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. After earning the penalty that earned Bath the lead in a situation he relishes, the unfortunate prop gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.