Billy Searle's Last-Minute Penalty Delivers Poignant Tigers Victory Against Bath

Amidst one of English rugby's most storied rivalries, this match between the Tigers and Bath proved to be as much about an emotion during the interval as the on-field action during play.

Martin Johnson headed a phalanx of Tigers old boys in honour of Lewis Moody, after he announced that he has been diagnosed with MND.

When Moody wore a Leicester jersey here, a decade and a half past, before moving to their rivals Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, the home side were more or less close to the peak of their powers, while Bath found themselves in the middle of a lengthy period devoid of championship success. Times have changed since. The Tigers’ great rivals arrived as champions, the first time they have called themselves that since the 1990s.

An Passionate Reception on Home Turf

The Tigers, riding a powerful emotional surge, offered them a classic, robust reception, relishing their status as underdogs in their own stadium, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody's heartfelt admission at half-time that regardless of his residence, Welford Road remains his rugby home.

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

The Decisive Moment

The replacement fly-half, on for the excellent James O'Connor, the experienced Wallaby making his first 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.

We might as well have been transported back of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, Leicester, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, can take great encouragement that their traditional, direct approach can still yield results, regardless of the quality of the opponent.

A Tale of Two Game Plans

The visitors were sublime when in possession. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period which saw them trail 17-7, learned to deprive them of any. A deluge of penalties conceded by Bath put Bath under constant pressure, their pack thoroughly outplayed at the set piece for most of the match.

The Tigers' three touchdowns were carbon copies of each other, neither scored from more than a yard; Bath’s three were studies in poetry. Frost, Underhill, and Redpath scored the tries, either side of Ollie Cracknell’s try for Tigers. Then, capitalizing on the penalty count, Reffell and Smith powered over to score either side of half-time.

A Nail-Biting Conclusion

That earned Tigers the lead, an advantage they maintained for most of the second half. It appeared inevitable before Bath won enough ball to score their fourth. In fact, 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 for one last, brutish assault, initiated by the energetic Hassell-Collins down the left. After earning the penalty that put Bath ahead in a situation he relishes, the unfortunate prop gave away a penalty in a vulnerable position. There could be only one result.