🔗 Share this article

Against the backdrop of a classic rugby union's most storied rivalries, this fixture between the Tigers and Bath was heavily influenced by an emotional tribute during the interval as any on-field action during the pitch.

Martin Johnson led a phalanx of Leicester old boys in honour of the great Lewis Moody, after he announced his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.

The last time Moody wore a Leicester jersey at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, prior to joining Bath for the last two years of a storied career, the home side were more or less close to the peak of their powers, while Bath were situated in the middle of a long drought without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, the first time they've held that status in over two decades.

An Passionate Welcome on Home Turf

Leicester, on a wave of emotion, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of the unfancied team in their own stadium, the 18,000 Midlanders further emboldened by Moody’s confession at half-time that, no matter where he may live, this famous ground will always be the home of his rugby heart.

Looking back, the visiting side were always up against it. True to form, in a last-minute assault deep in Bath territory, Leicester won a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.

A Dramatic Climax

Billy Searle, on for the excellent James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for the club, took a quick tap, and Thomas du Toit caught him high, an infringement for which he saw yellow. With the last kick, Searle slotted the penalty kick on an angle to steal the win.

We might as well have been transported back of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, Leicester, who moved up the table in a congested league, will be heartened that their traditional, direct approach can still yield results, regardless of the quality of the opponent.

A Tale of Two Styles

Bath 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 Bath kept Bath under constant pressure, their forwards comprehensively bested at the set piece 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, before and after Cracknell's score for Leicester. Subsequently, on the back of those penalties, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith forced their way over to score just before and just after the break.

A Tense Finish

That earned Tigers the lead, which they held for most of the second half. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath won enough ball to grab a fourth try. Actually, their breakthrough came with a rare penalty in the scrum, their South Africans by then on. Finn Russell, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, landed the kick inside the final ten minutes.

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, poor Du Toit gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. There could be only one result.