Searle's Final-Second Penalty Secures Emotional Leicester Victory Over Bath

Against the backdrop of one of English rugby's greatest contests, this match involving Leicester versus Bath proved to be as much about the emotion during the interval than any rugby during play.

Martin Johnson led a contingent comprising Tigers old boys in honour of Lewis Moody, who has revealed that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

When Moody wore the Tigers' jersey at Welford Road, 15 years ago, prior to joining their rivals Bath for his final two seasons of a storied career, the home side were more or less still at their very best, whereas their opponents were situated in the middle of 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 have called themselves that since the 1990s.

A Truly Emotional Reception at Welford Road

Leicester, on a wave of emotion, offered them an old-fashioned welcome, embracing the role of underdogs on their own pitch, the large home crowd greatly inspired by Moody’s confession during the break that regardless of his residence, this famous ground will always be his rugby home.

In retrospect, Bath did not stand a chance. Sure enough, during a final, desperate attack on the Bath line, Leicester won one last penalty out of the Bath defence.

A Dramatic Decisive Moment

The replacement fly-half, who replaced the excellent James O'Connor, the seasoned Australian making his debut start for the club, took a quick tap, and the Bath prop caught him high, for which offence he saw yellow. From the final play, Searle landed the penalty on an angle to steal the win.

We might as well have been back in the days of Moody’s pomp. Without a doubt, Leicester, who climb a little higher in the mid-table bun fight, will be heartened that a familiar frontal assault can still yield results, regardless of the quality they face.

A Tale of Two Game Plans

The visitors were a different class with ball in hand. So Leicester, following a confusing opening period which saw them trail 17-7, adapted to starve them of possession. A succession of penalties against Bath put Bath on the back foot, their forwards comprehensively bested 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 works of art. 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 forced their way over to score just before and just after the break.

The Nail-Biting Finish

Those scores gave Leicester a narrow advantage, 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 arrived via an infrequent penalty in the scrum, with their South African reinforcements now on the field. The fly-half, having missed two of his three earlier attempts, successfully converted the penalty with a little less than 10 minutes to play.

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, poor Du Toit conceded where he is not. There could be only one result.