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Against the backdrop of one of rugby union's greatest contests, this fixture between the Tigers and Bath was heavily influenced by an emotion at half-time as the rugby during the pitch.

The legendary Martin Johnson headed a phalanx comprising Leicester old boys in honour of Lewis Moody, after he announced his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.

When Moody last pulled on a Leicester jersey at Welford Road, 15 years ago, before moving to Bath for the last two years in a distinguished playing career, Leicester were more or less still at their very best, whereas Bath were situated enduring a long drought devoid of championship success. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. Bath came into the match as title holders, the first time they've held that status since the 1990s.

An Passionate Welcome on Home Turf

The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, served up a classic, robust reception, relishing their status as underdogs on their own pitch, the 18,000 Midlanders greatly inspired by Moody’s confession at half-time that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road 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 one last penalty out of the Bath defence.

The Climax

Billy Searle, who replaced the impressive James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his first start for the club, darted blind, and the Bath prop made a high tackle, an infringement for which he saw yellow. From the final play, Searle slotted the penalty kick on an angle to snatch a dramatic victory.

We might as well have been back in the days to Lewis Moody's prime. Certainly, the home team, who moved up the table in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach remains effective, regardless of the quality they face.

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 deluge of penalties against the away side put Bath under constant pressure, their forwards thoroughly outplayed in the scrums and lineouts for most of the match.

Leicester’s three tries 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 Cracknell's score for Tigers. Subsequently, on the back of those penalties, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith powered over to score just before and just after the break.

A Tense Conclusion

Those scores gave Leicester the lead, which they held for the majority of the second period. It appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. Actually, their breakthrough arrived via an infrequent penalty in 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 for one last, brutish assault, set up by the energetic Hassell-Collins on the left wing. Having won the penalty that put Bath ahead in a situation he relishes, the unfortunate prop conceded where he is not. The outcome was then a foregone conclusion.