The reception was rousing, nary an eye left dry nor a seat left occupied as the Leicester faithful rose to their feet. As Lewis Moody strode on to the Welford Road surface after the toughest few weeks of his life, it was with the courage that characterised his career; his playing days may be long behind him but the former Tigers, Bath and England flanker has surely never felt more love.
Not two weeks after announcing that he had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), this meeting of his two former clubs brought Moody back to the parish he for so long called home as one of the finest players and people this club has ever produced. Moody’s image adorns the “Wall of Legends” that sits adjacent to the club shop in the Europcar stand; he may have been born in Ascot and finished his career at Bath, but the flanker is one of Tigers’ own. Let us hope there are many more visits yet, for games just like the one enjoyed here – fierce, ferocious and thrilling to the last, settled with the final kick of Billy Searle’s boot to give the home side victory.
