Against the backdrop of one of rugby union's most storied contests, the fixture between Leicester and the visitors was heavily influenced by an emotional tribute during half-time than any rugby during play.
The legendary Martin Johnson led a phalanx comprising Leicester old boys in honour of Lewis Moody, who has announced his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.
When Moody last pulled on a Leicester jersey here, a decade and a half past, before moving to Bath for the last two years in a distinguished playing career, Leicester remained close to the peak of their powers, whereas their opponents found themselves enduring a long drought without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath arrived as champions, the first time they have called themselves that since the 1990s.
An Emotional Welcome at Welford Road
The Tigers, on a wave of emotion, served up an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as the unfancied team on their own pitch, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody's heartfelt admission at half-time that regardless of his residence, Welford Road remains his rugby home.
Looking back, the visiting side were always up against it. True to form, during a final, desperate attack deep in Bath territory, the Tigers won a crucial penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.
The Climax
The replacement fly-half, on for the excellent James O’Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his debut start for the club, took a quick tap, and the Bath prop made a high tackle, an infringement for which he saw yellow. 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, Leicester, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, regardless of the quality of the opponent.
A Tale of Two Styles
Bath were sublime with ball in hand. Therefore, Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour in which they fell 17-7 behind, adapted to starve them of possession. A succession of penalties conceded by the away side put Bath under constant pressure, their forwards comprehensively bested at the set piece for most of the match.
Leicester’s three tries were carbon copies of each other, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath's three tries 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 powered over for tries either side of half-time.
A Tense Finish
Those scores gave Leicester a narrow advantage, which they held for most of the second half. It appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. Actually, their breakthrough came with a rare penalty in the scrum, their South Africans by then on. Finn Russell, after missing two earlier kicks, successfully converted the penalty inside the final ten minutes.
That only inspired Leicester for one last, brutish assault, initiated by the energetic Hassell-Collins on the left wing. After earning the penalty that earned Bath the lead where he is most comfortable, poor Du Toit conceded where he is not. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.
