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Against the backdrop of one of rugby union's greatest rivalries, the fixture between the Tigers and the visitors proved to be as much about the emotion during the interval as the on-field action on play.

The legendary Martin Johnson headed a contingent comprising Leicester former players in honour of the great Lewis Moody, who has announced that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

When Moody last pulled on a Leicester jersey at Welford Road, a decade and a half past, prior to joining Bath for the last two years in a distinguished playing career, the home side were more or less close to their very best, whereas Bath were situated enduring a long drought devoid of championship success. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, marking the first occasion they've held that status in over two decades.

A Truly Emotional Welcome at Welford Road

Leicester, on a wave of emotion, offered them a classic, robust reception, 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 regardless of his residence, this famous ground remains his rugby home.

In retrospect, the visiting side were always up against it. True to form, in a last-minute assault on the Bath line, Leicester won a crucial penalty out of the Bath defence.

A Dramatic 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, and Thomas du Toit caught him high, for which offence he saw yellow. With the last kick, 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. Without a doubt, Leicester, who moved up the table in the mid-table bun fight, will be heartened that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, regardless of the quality of the opponent.

A Tale of Two Game Plans

The visitors were a different class 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 Bath kept Bath under constant pressure, their forwards comprehensively bested at the set piece throughout the game.

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 scored the tries, before and after Cracknell's score for Leicester. Subsequently, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith powered over to score just before and just after the break.

A Tense Finish

Those scores gave Leicester the lead, an advantage they maintained 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.

That only inspired Leicester to launch one final, powerful assault, initiated by the energetic Hassell-Collins down the left. Having won the penalty that put Bath ahead where he is most comfortable, the unfortunate prop conceded where he is not. There could be only one result.