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'I can’t believe I’m sitting here as a losing coach'
Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam said he never lost belief his players would come away from Leicester with a result after their 21-19 Gallagher Premiership comeback victory at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
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Lam and his staff would have been forgiven for thinking it was not going to be their side’s day as they trailed 19-0 against a Tigers side who had to win to keep their flickering play-off hopes alive.
Instead, Magnus Bradbury scored a last-gasp try as Bristol completed an amazing comeback – after Leicester’s Mike Brown had been sent off – to remain fourth in the table, ahead of Harlequins on points difference.
Lam said: “I know we can score four or five tries in the space of 10 to 15 minutes, so I was looking at the clock and said: ‘Keep going, keep believing’.
“That’s why at half-time I was showing them there was plenty of opportunity here and they were doing exactly what we’re doing – let’s just make sure we do what we’ve got to do.
Match Summary 
0
Penalty Goals
0
3
Tries
3
2
Conversions
3
0
Drop Goals
0
123
Carries
156
4
Line Breaks
6
15
Turnovers Lost
22
4
Turnovers Won
4
“We just weren’t quite accurate and a couple of guys weren’t in the right places (in the first half), so they knew that if we don’t try and make something happen, just be in a position and someone will make a line break and then get to them.
“Then just keep going and try and keep the tempo up because we could see they were starting to get heavy on their feet, with their big forwards, as well.”
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Two tries from Ollie Hassell-Collins and a close-range effort from Francois Van Wyk built what looked certain to be a winning lead for Leicester.
But Max Lahiff scored either side of Brown receiving a second yellow card for a head-on-head collision with Benhard Janse Van Rensburg before Alan MacGinty’s conversion of Bradbury’s last-minute try completed an amazing turnaround.
Leicester head coach Dan McKellar said: “Ultimately, the second card for Brownie hurt us – 19-7 up, we were well in control of that game.
“(We had) a line-out in the A-zone, instead it was a penalty against you, you go down to 14 and they’re a tough team to defend against with 14.
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“I thought we were outstanding today for 70-odd minutes and to be honest I can’t believe I’m sitting here as a losing coach.
“We just need to reflect on the whole year; that’s another close loss at home when you think of Sale, Harlequins, Gloucester and now Bristol.
“You win those games – those tight ones at home – and all of a sudden, you’re sitting pretty in the top four.
“There’s a lot of learnings to come out of this year, but at the right time we’ll look at that and review it and make sure we’re better for it.”
Comments on RugbyPass
One would hope when a player of such caliber is approached for transfer is traversed a lot more carefully. The question I ask, “is the players agent raising red flags in the first instance of contact”. By what I read assumptions are made by nzr based on player welfare provided to them. So what is that? Is it a wholistic approach where family balance is taken into account. Because thay’s what’s in the mix when players go off shore. I realize the money is a huge factor but when negotiations are initiated is nzr involved. As Lendrum says having our best players available is paramount to our success So here’s hoping they are effectively communicating.
4 Go to commentsPSTD, I salute you.
6 Go to commentsWhy don't they just give up on scrums and lineouts, cut the number of players to 13, and call the game ‘rugby league’? These idiots are determined to destroy the game as we know it, and instead of ‘attracting youngsters to the game’ as Beaumont suggests, it’ll deter a lot of the less skilled, maybe overweight kids who it is perfect for. World Rugby is detestable. And as for the 20 minute ‘red’ - why not teach the players to tackle better? (Like the current tackle height trials are supposed to do, but will probably be squashed by the NZRU as usual). I despair for the union game, I really do.
34 Go to commentsHere’s hoping the emphasis on how the tmo interfaces on game infractions is taken into account more seriously than what was adjudicated during the 23 wc. That was a shambles, plus Barnes the abs ref never contested some of the calls, something he’s known for. And then we're left with wr opologizing after the game that smith’s try was legit. I was even more pizzed. And as for the red card if the infringement is clearly intentional foul then the individual is out of the game and after 20mins the bench replacement comes on. So, there’s then the degree of seriousness taken into account within the 20min stand down.
34 Go to commentsNot sure they the article doesn’t hit on TMO this year, that’s were they were putting focus right. The fact the other areas haven’t improved shows just how poor the comp is at focusing on its direction. There should still have been further gains in both those areas this year even it if didn’t have the same focus as others. The whistle to restart time, like touch finders of 26 seconds, surely has to be a key focus area next year. Why should a side be given so much time to kick for touch? Cut that down to 5 or 10 seconds, penalties both become less of key stalling/defensive strategy, and become more ‘live’ with tap kicks becoming much more favourable quick actions. Theres absolutely no reason we have to wait over 10 secs for the preferred kicker to walk up and try and take maximum advantage, especially when half the time its just a delay tactic to give the forwards time to plan, as the kicker hardly even trys to find the corner with his kick, anyone could have kicked it straight out for the lineout.
34 Go to commentsShame. Hope something else can be arranged.
3 Go to commentsTitans of under-20s rugby …. Reporters tired verbiage akin to calling every player a “star” and any Fijian side as ”Flying”. The French English and Irish are the Titans of U20 rugby. Noone in the South is now. This tournament is however, good prep to regain titan status.
1 Go to commentsWill be humbling coming back and playing second fiddle to Dmac.
4 Go to commentsSounds like quite a bit of development has occurred regarding Mo’unga’s situation. Either NZR has stepped up their offer (big time) or RMo has had a reality check on what it will be like to be outside of the high performance environment of AB rugby. Maybe both. It reads like there are only a few remaining details to be sorted out before it is a done deal.
4 Go to commentsCurrently, a prop that has been substituted can go back on field if his original replacement gets injured. Can a red carded prop go back if his replacement gets injured, or will it be uncontested scrums?
13 Go to commentsWhat about a free kick from a scrum? Can you call another scrum? Or are they just giving straight penalties now?
34 Go to commentsLoved that comment by Andrew that the ‘water boys’ rule was changed in 2020 just to stymie the Boks!
34 Go to commentsOne of the best the Boks have ever produced. PSDT has an engine that goes non-stop for the full 80 min.
6 Go to commentsThe real deal.
6 Go to commentsIt’s been said that Nienaber will head back to SA too before next World Cup , hoarding all the amazing IP gained in Irish system … get a grip … Irish system needs to Milk the likes of Barrett . First time a leading all Black in his prime has gone to Ireland for any period of time . Enjoy it .
22 Go to comments20 min RC is the only good solution of a bunch of bad solutions. Ridiculous that it has taken this long and caused so many uneven contests. In general these are all very good changes - one is surprised that NH brokers were able to see sense at long last.
13 Go to comments“While a red card will mean a temporary team disadvantage, the replacement system will focus punishment on the offending player instead of disrupting the game itself.” This might work for amateur rugby, where players just want to be on the pitch for as long as possible, but hopefully we’ve got to a point where top level professionals care about the success of their team much more than about whether they personally are on the pitch or not.
13 Go to commentsa lot of focus on the targeting of south africa, but aspects of this are positive. The croc roll; the offside law; and time limits on set pieces are all good. calling for a mark off kick offs is baffling, but I guess we’ll see how it plays out in practice
34 Go to commentsSpeeding the game up is great, but I think we will find that the increase in viewership this year mostly comes down to the competition being more competitive…the fall of the Crusaders has been a boon for viewership. This should be at the heart of super rugby changes - how to make the comp more even
34 Go to commentsThe fact that the press were largely to blame for his taking a break is nothing short of disgusting. He’s made a few mistakes but difficult to name a player of any substance who gives it a full go hasn’t also made mistakes? On behalf of a large number of Bokke fans, bring back Farrell !!!!!
3 Go to comments