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Against the backdrop of a classic English rugby's most storied contests, this match involving Leicester versus Bath proved to be as much about the emotion at half-time as any rugby during play.

Martin Johnson headed a phalanx comprising Tigers old boys to pay tribute to Lewis Moody, after he revealed his diagnosis with MND.

When Moody last pulled on a Leicester jersey here, a decade and a half past, prior to joining Bath for the last two years in a distinguished playing career, the home side remained close to their very best, whereas Bath found themselves enduring a lengthy period without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals came into the match as title holders, the first time they've held that status since the 1990s.

An Passionate Welcome on Home Turf

Leicester, on a wave of emotion, served up a classic, robust reception, relishing their status as the unfancied team on their own pitch, the large home crowd further emboldened by Moody’s confession at half-time that, no matter where he may live, this famous ground remains his rugby home.

Looking back, the visiting side did not stand a chance. True to form, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, Leicester managed to coax one last penalty out of the Bath defence.

The Decisive Moment

Billy Searle, on for the impressive James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for Leicester, took a quick tap, before the Bath prop caught him high, an infringement for which he received a yellow card. From the final play, Searle landed the penalty on an angle to steal the win.

It felt like being back in the days of Moody’s pomp. Certainly, the home team, who climb a little higher in a congested league, can take great encouragement that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, regardless of the quality they face.

A Tale of Two Game Plans

Bath were a different class with ball in hand. So Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour in which they fell 17-7 behind, learned to deprive them of any. A succession of penalties conceded by Bath put Bath under constant pressure, their forwards thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.

The Tigers' three touchdowns were remarkably similar, all scored from close range; Bath’s three were studies in poetry. Dan Frost, Sam Underhill and Cameron Redpath scored the tries, before and after Ollie Cracknell’s try for Leicester. Subsequently, on the back of those penalties, Reffell and Smith forced their way over for tries either side of half-time.

A Nail-Biting Conclusion

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 secured sufficient possession to grab a fourth try. Actually, their breakthrough arrived via an infrequent penalty at the scrum, their South Africans by then on. Finn Russell, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, successfully converted the penalty inside the final ten minutes.

This merely galvanized Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, set up by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins down the left. Having won the penalty that earned Bath the lead where he is most comfortable, poor Du Toit gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.