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Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's greatest rivalries, this match involving Leicester and Bath was heavily influenced by the emotion during the interval than any rugby during the pitch.

Martin Johnson led a contingent comprising Leicester old boys to pay tribute to the great Lewis Moody, who has revealed that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

When Moody last pulled on a Leicester shirt at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, prior to joining their rivals Bath for the last two years of a storied career, the home side remained still at their very best, while Bath were situated in the middle of a long drought without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath came into the match as title holders, marking the first occasion they've held that status in over two decades.

An Emotional Reception at Welford Road

The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them a classic, robust reception, embracing the role of underdogs in their own stadium, the 18,000 Midlanders greatly inspired 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, in a last-minute assault deep in Bath territory, the Tigers managed to coax one last penalty out of the Bath defence.

The Climax

Billy Searle, who replaced the impressive James O’Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his debut start for the club, darted blind, before the Bath prop caught him high, for which offence he saw yellow. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick from a difficult angle to snatch a dramatic victory.

It felt like being back in the days of Moody’s pomp. 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 remains effective, no matter the pedigree of the opponent.

A Tale of Two Styles

The visitors were a different class with ball in hand. Therefore, Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour in which they fell 17-7 behind, learned to deprive them of any. A succession of penalties against Bath put Bath under constant pressure, their forwards thoroughly outplayed 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, before and after Ollie Cracknell’s try for Leicester. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith powered over for tries either side of half-time.

A Nail-Biting Finish

Those scores gave Leicester a narrow advantage, which they held for the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. In fact, their breakthrough arrived via an infrequent penalty in the scrum, their South Africans by then on. The fly-half, after missing two earlier kicks, landed the kick with a little less than 10 minutes to play.

This merely galvanized Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, initiated by the lively Ollie Hassell-Collins on the left wing. Having won the penalty that earned Bath the lead where he is most comfortable, the unfortunate prop gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. There could be only one result.