🔗 Share this article

Against the backdrop of one of rugby union's greatest contests, the fixture between the Tigers and the visitors was heavily influenced by an emotion at half-time than the rugby on play.

The legendary Martin Johnson headed a phalanx of Leicester old boys to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, who has revealed that he has been diagnosed with MND.

When Moody last pulled on a Leicester jersey here, a decade and a half past, before moving to Bath for his final two seasons in a distinguished playing career, the home side were more or less still at the peak of their powers, while their opponents were situated enduring a long drought 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.

A Truly Emotional Welcome on Home Turf

Leicester, riding a powerful emotional surge, served up an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession during the break that, no matter where he may live, this famous ground will always be his rugby home.

Looking back, the visiting side were always up against it. Sure enough, during a final, desperate attack on the Bath line, Leicester managed to coax a crucial penalty from the tiring Bath defenders.

The Decisive Moment

The replacement fly-half, on for the impressive James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for the club, darted blind, before the Bath prop caught him high, an infringement for which he saw yellow. From the final play, Searle landed the penalty from a difficult angle to steal the win.

We might as well have been back in the days to Lewis Moody's prime. Without a doubt, the home team, 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.

Contrasting Styles

The visitors were sublime with ball in hand. Therefore, Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour which saw them trail 17-7, adapted to starve them of possession. A deluge of penalties against the away side put Bath on the back foot, their forwards thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.

The Tigers' three touchdowns were remarkably similar, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath’s three were studies in poetry. 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 forced their way over for tries just before and just after the break.

A Nail-Biting Conclusion

That earned Tigers a narrow advantage, which they held for most of the second half. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath secured sufficient possession to score their fourth. In fact, their breakthrough came with a rare penalty in 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.

This merely galvanized 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 in a situation he relishes, the unfortunate prop gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. There could be only one result.