Searle's Last-Minute Kick Delivers Emotional Tigers Win Over Bath Rugby

Amidst a classic rugby union's greatest rivalries, the fixture involving Leicester versus the visitors proved to be as much about the emotional tribute at the interval as the on-field action during the pitch.

Martin Johnson led a contingent comprising Tigers former players in honour of the great Lewis Moody, who has announced his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.

When Moody wore the Tigers' shirt here, a decade and a half past, prior to joining Bath for his final two seasons in a distinguished playing career, Leicester were more or less still at the peak of their powers, while their opponents were situated in the middle of a long drought without the title. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals came into the match as title holders, marking the first occasion they have called themselves that since the 1990s.

An Emotional Welcome at Welford Road

Leicester, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, relishing their status as the unfancied team on their own pitch, the 18,000 Midlanders further emboldened by Moody’s confession at half-time that, no matter where he may live, Welford Road remains his rugby home.

In retrospect, Bath were always up against it. Sure enough, during a final, desperate attack deep in Bath territory, Leicester managed to coax a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.

A Dramatic Decisive Moment

Billy Searle, on for the excellent James O’Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for Leicester, darted blind, and the Bath prop caught him high, an infringement for which he saw yellow. From the final play, Searle landed the penalty on an angle to snatch a dramatic victory.

It felt like being transported back to Lewis Moody's prime. Without a doubt, the home team, who moved up the table in a congested league, can take great encouragement that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, regardless of the quality of the opponent.

Contrasting Styles

The visitors were a different class when in possession. So Leicester, after a bewildering first half-hour in which they fell 17-7 behind, adapted to starve them of possession. A succession of penalties conceded by Bath put Bath on the back foot, their forwards comprehensively bested in the scrums and lineouts throughout the game.

Leicester’s three tries were carbon copies of each other, all scored from close range; Bath's three tries were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith forced their way over for tries just before and just after the break.

The Tense Conclusion

Those scores gave Leicester the lead, which they held for most of the second half. It seemed only a matter of time before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. Actually, their breakthrough came with a rare penalty at the scrum, with their South African reinforcements now on the field. The fly-half, after missing two earlier kicks, successfully converted the penalty with a little less than 10 minutes to play.

That only inspired Leicester for one last, brutish assault, set up by the energetic Hassell-Collins down the left. 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.