Following Leicester Tigers’ 36-19 victory over Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate, here are our five takeaways from the Premiership encounter.
The top line
Leicester Tigers shoot up the table into second place after an intelligent and brutal victory over Bristol Bears to displace Pat Lam’s side and become the official opposition to league leaders Bath.
It was a sharp and effective display from the Tigers, who shut the threatening Bristol attack down time and time again, but were equally ruthless when their opportunities came, outscoring their hosts five tries to three.
Adam Radwan continued his excellent try-scoring form since making the switch to Leicester from Newcastle, giving the scoreboard operators their first bit of work as he crossed in the fourth minute.
Kalaveti Ravouvou manufactured Bristol’s response with a mind-blowing offload for Gabriel Ibitoye to score off, but the remainder of the half was all Tigers as Ollie Hassell-Collins and Jack van Poortvliet, added further scores, with Handre Pollard adding the extras and a penalty as Michael Cheika’s side led 22-5 at the break.
Ravouvou and Harry Randall both scored for Bristol in the second half to threaten a comeback, but Cheika’s men stayed in front with Freddie Steward and Cameron Henderson both crossing the whitewash.
The outrageous and utterly awful, a Bristol tale
Being a Bristol Bears fan must be a bit like riding a rollercoaster at a shoddy theme park where the operator has sent the speed twice that of the safety limit. While it can be gloriously thrilling as the wheels squeak around every corner and you fear for your life, the ride can come to a screaming halt midway through a loop.
Fijian star Ravouvou provided the first bit of the ride, the fun bit, as he charged down into the Leicester 22, down an alley that looked to be blocked, only to throw a stunning behind-the-back-no-look pass out to Ibitoye – a bit of outrageous skill perhaps not seen since Tamati Ellison set Ben Smith up against the Crusaders in the 2010s.
Fijian star leaves fans GOBSMACKED with ‘outrageous’ Tamati Ellison-esque offload
But after Ibitoye etched his name on the scoresheet, he assisted Hassell-Collins to do the same as he ran an admittedly excellent arc but threw an utterly awful basketball-esque pass that got nowhere near Benhard Janse van Rensburg. Instead, it landed graciously into Hassell-Collins’ arms who had no one near him as he cantered away.
The rollercoaster got back up to breakneck speed again in the second half as Ibitoye got his basketball-esque pass right, this time to Richard Lane into space with Ravouvou going from provider to scorer.
Time and time again, the Bears forced the issue with offloads after failing to gain ground or dominate the collision, leading to the ball hitting the floor with the Tigers diving on it to secure possession.
Freakish Marcus Smith incident ends incredible streak in the UNLUCKIEST manner
Bears backfield nightmare
For all their attacking brilliance, one has to wonder if Lane, Deago Bailey and Ibitoye have been given any direction defensively in terms of covering the backfield.
50:22s are usually quite rare occurrences, but twice in the first half alone, Leicester managed to benefit from the law tweak from a few years ago, and while they were excellent kicks from Radwan and Freddie Steward respectively, they were both assisted by what can only be described as sheer dereliction of duties.
Leicester quite clearly picked up in their analysis that Bristol are slow to react on turnovers in particular with the Tigers’ backs quickly putting boot to ball to exploit the lazy turn from the Bears’ backfield cover and it almost paid dividends before the break as Hanro Liebenberg raced over the line only for his try to be disallowed by Joe Heyes’ high tackle.
That came after Pollard punted the ball long into the Bristol half with AJ MacGinty tracking back to cover. While the USA star is no slouch, he is certainly not as quick as his back-three teammates, who were anonymous in that passage of play.
It’s one thing being an attack-heavy tactical team, but one cannot ignore what is deemed basic defensive duties at this level.
Cunning Tigers
A tip of the hat to David Kidwell. His defensive system was ripped to shreds by Glasgow Warriors earlier this month, but his charges produced a polar opposite showing against the Premiership’s most lethal attack.
Double hits, choke tackles and breakdown brilliance was the order of the day as the Tigers made the Bears’ attack look rather average at times with only one of the first three tries coming from defensive lapses and the other two coming from individual brilliance – which sometimes you just have to concede that you cannot stop.
It was a sharp, effective defensive showing that extended to the lineouts too, where Liebenberg made life hell for Steven Luatua and co. Additionally, they were smart in what they did after winning turnovers, as mentioned above, as they continually put the Bears deep into their own half, knowing that they would sparingly kick it back and attempt to run it back.
Test watch
There are very few Wales players who are spoken about in the British and Irish Lions selection conversation as Andy Farrell’s deadline date draws ever closer. Jac Morgan, Dewi Lake and Tomos Williams are the usual headline picks, but perhaps Tommy Reffell deserves more chatter.
A dark horse pick, but Reffell would not disappoint as today he again showed his all-court game with a titanic defensive shift, making 16 tackles – a match-high while he was on the pitch- and winning three turnovers. Time and time again, he brought the Bristol attack to a standstill, even though he didn’t win the turnover and caused the ball to spit out the side too. He was just as effective at Leicester’s breakdowns, too. There is no shortage of number sevens across the home nations, and if Reffell were to be selected, he would certainly not just be filling a quota, as he showed with his dominant display.
Staying in the Tigers’ back-row, it is still quite remarkable that the Springboks have not had a look at Liebenberg since he left South African shores. Sure, Rassie Erasmus is not short on back-row options, but Liebenberg remains one of the most consistent performers in the Premiership and is right up there with the league’s best defensive lineout operators. But he adds much, much more as highlighted by his pilfer out on the touchline that secured the result and denied the Bears a bonus point.
With Tommy Freeman surely earning a place in the British and Irish Lions squad, Steve Borthwick will be casting an eye on the wing options in the Premiership, which could well result in a recall for Hassell-Collins. There was not a facet in the game where the speedster was not solid at worst. He brilliantly picked off Ibitoye’s pass to score, grabbed a brilliant high ball which led to the last try of the match and was just excellent overall.
On the topic of Ibitoye, today’s match really hampered his chances of earning a recall as he was repeatedly caught out of position and defended poorly, even with the basic one-on-one tackles. Often his shortcomings on defence are overshadowed by his attacking brilliance, but not today.
Elsewhere, Ollie Chessum put in another superb shift that will do his Lions aspirations no harm, while Radwan could sneak back into England contention after another lively outing on the wing.
Finally, Steward put in another excellent shift at full-back where he showed some neat footwork and pace to score his try while kicking well on the whole out of hand. The Lions tour looks to be a push at the moment but perhaps he can reclaim the number 15 white jersey.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/bristol-v-leicester-five-takeaways-as-lions-dark-horse-dominates-to-down-outrageous-and-utterly-awful-bears
