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Bristol hammer Leicester to remain in Premiership play-off picture

By PA
(Photo by Bob Bradford/CameraSport via Getty Images)

Bristol stayed firmly in the Gallagher Premiership play-off race after brushing aside Leicester 40-3 at Ashton Gate. An emphatic bonus-point victory – a record league win for Bristol against Leicester – means that a repeat outcome against struggling London Irish on Sunday could set up a top-four finish.

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Bristol will also require one of their play-off rivals Wasps or Bath to lose on the final day of regular season action – they face Exeter and Saracens respectively – but Pat Lam’s men have given themselves every chance. And it was an impressive performance under pressure for league points, even if some of the attacking pyrotechnics that have highlighted recent Bristol displays were absent.

On this occasion, it was the Bristol pack that prospered, with No8 Nathan Hughes, hooker Bryan Byrne and flanker Dan Thomas all scoring tries in the first 45 minutes. Full-back Ioan Lloyd also touched down and replacement Harry Thacker crossed against his former club before Bristol collected an 80th-minute penalty try.

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Fly-half Callum Sheedy kicked four conversions, and an inexperienced Leicester side’s solitary scoring response came from Zack Henry’s 24th-minute penalty. It was Tigers’ 14th defeat of a dismal league campaign, and Bristol encountered few problems putting them away.

Lam made ten changes from the side that beat European Challenge Cup semi-final opponents Bordeaux last week, including starts for centre Sam Bedlow, scrum-half Andy Uren and lock Dave Attwood. Leicester, meanwhile, were captained by No8 Thom Smith as head coach Steve Borthwick gave many of his young prospects an opportunity with one eye on next season.

The Tigers were 31 points and six places behind Bristol before kick-off, and the home side twice went close to an early try as wing Niyi Adeolokun and then Attwood threatened Leicester’s line. Pressure told after 18 minutes as Bristol’s forwards established an attacking platform inside the Leicester 22 before Lloyd finished off a slick move and touched down.

Sheedy’s conversion opened up a seven-point lead, but much of the action was scrappy and error-strewn before a Henry penalty opened Tigers’ account. Bristol had already established a degree of control through their forwards and it came as no surprise when Leicester buckled under scrum pressure eleven minutes before half-time.

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The Bristol pack expertly controlled a close-range scrum and Hughes claimed his team’s second try after Leicester retreated, with another Sheedy conversion making it 14-3. Tigers could find no way out of Bristol’s grip and when Leicester scrum-half Ben White received a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, they immediately fell further behind.

Another lineout deep inside Leicester’s 22 was just what the Bristol forwards ordered, and this time it was Byrne who emerged with the ball for try number three, and Sheedy’s conversion established an 18-point interval advantage.

Bristol needed just five minutes of the second period to make it mission accomplished as their fourth try went to Thomas and Sheedy again converted. Fijian star Semi Radradra appeared off Bristol’s bench for the final quarter, and he was immediately involved in the action after replacing Lloyd.

Leicester were now in firm damage-limitation mode, but they could not stop Thacker from darting over, meaning that Bristol led by 30 points with 15 minutes still remaining. A penalty try in the dying seconds took Bristol to 40 points, with Leicester wing Harry Simmons sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.

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J
Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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