🔗 Share this article

Amidst one of English rugby's most storied contests, this match between the Tigers and Bath was as much about the emotional tribute during half-time than the rugby on play.

The legendary Martin Johnson led a phalanx comprising Tigers old boys in honour of the great Lewis Moody, after he revealed his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.

When Moody last pulled on the Tigers' shirt here, a decade and a half past, before moving to Bath for the last two years in a distinguished playing career, Leicester were more or less still at their very best, while their opponents found themselves in the middle of a lengthy period devoid of championship success. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath arrived as champions, the first time they have called themselves that in over two decades.

An Passionate Welcome on Home Turf

The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of underdogs in their own stadium, the 18,000 Midlanders further emboldened by Moody’s confession at half-time that regardless of his residence, this famous ground remains his rugby home.

In retrospect, the visiting side were always up against it. Sure enough, during a final, desperate attack deep in Bath territory, Leicester won a crucial penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.

A Dramatic Decisive Moment

Billy Searle, who replaced the impressive James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for the club, darted blind, before the Bath prop caught him high, for which offence he received a yellow card. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick on an angle to snatch a dramatic victory.

We might as well have been transported back to Lewis Moody's prime. Without a doubt, Leicester, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach can still yield results, no matter the pedigree of the opponent.

A Tale of Two Game Plans

The visitors were sublime with ball in hand. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period which saw them trail 17-7, learned to deprive them of any. A deluge of penalties conceded by Bath put Bath on the back foot, their pack thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.

The Tigers' three touchdowns 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 for tries just before and just after the break.

The Tense 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. In fact, their breakthrough arrived via an infrequent penalty in the scrum, with their South African reinforcements now on the field. The fly-half, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, successfully converted the penalty with a little less than 10 minutes to play.

That only inspired Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, set up by the energetic Hassell-Collins on the left wing. After earning the penalty that earned Bath the lead where he is most comfortable, the unfortunate prop conceded where he is not. There could be only one result.