Bristol Bears secured a 31-19 bonus point victory over Wasps on Friday night in Round 18 of the 2021/22 Gallagher Premiership.
Tries from Harry Thacker, Anthoine Frisch, Niyi Adeolokun and Alapati Leiua, along with 11 points from the boot of fly-half Tiff Eden, handed Pat Lam’s men the win at Ashton Gate.
Wasps crossed the line three times through Gabriel Oghre, Will Porter and Marcus Watson while full-back Jacob Umaga kicked two conversions.
South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performances from the Bristol Bears…
15. Henry Purdy - 7
It was not a day for long-distance counterattacks from the Bears as no one in the backline made more than 38m in attack but Purdy was solid throughout.
14. Niyi Adeolokun - 7
Making a rare start, the former Ireland international raced in to finish his try well following stunning handling from the Bears to put him into space.
Strang whipped the ball away from the base of the ruck, with Thacker swiping it on like a game of hot potato to put Leiua into space and the Samoan drew the final defender to put the Adeolokun away for a top-quality blindside try.
13. Semi Radradra - 7
The Fijian continues to tick along and provide ballast in the midfield but was quiet by his very high standards.
That said he made a wonderful try-saving tackle inches from his try line moments before Strang handed Wasps a try with a silly error at the base of a ruck.
12. Antoine Frisch - 8
The Frenchman took his opportunity from a rare start in the first team well, scoring a superb try with a display of impressive pace as he took an offload off the shoulder of Tiff Eden to race under the sticks.
11. Alapati Leiua - 7
The Samoan winger finished his try well, cutting in from the left-hand wing to avoid being tackled into touch to finish a slicing move from the Bears.
He is really stepping up to be counted during an injury crisis across the backline
10. Tiff Eden - 8
It was an outstanding man of the match display from a player director of rugby Pat Lam has not turned to regularly at fly-half.
Eden was superb in every element of his game, attacking the line as a runner to make a half break and offload for Frisch’s try, spraying a beautiful wide miss-pass for Leuia’s score, and most importantly kicking to a very high standard both out of hand and from the tee.
He seriously put his hand up to be Bristol's second choice number 10 this season behind Callum Sheedy who was on the bench but not used having been released back late in the week from Wales.
9. Theo Strang - 4
The scrum-half had a shocker of a clanger that exposed either a gap in his understanding of the laws or the game or inability to think under pressure, to gift Wasps a try after some outstanding defensive work from his teammates had shut down the danger.
After a try-saving tackle from Radradra and then impressive turnover from Frisch, Strang had the job of box kicking clear just in front of his own trying but right near the corner flag to give him no angle to work with. As has become accustomed, he set up a caterpillar ruck to try and give himself protection from being charged down - but in doing so pushed the ball back behind his own tryline with his foot, in doing so voiding the offside line as you can’t be offside in the deadball area. Will Porter was alive to the opportunity and dived in to touch the ball down for a try.
His passing from the base of the rucks was sharp and accurate but too many box kicks drifted straight into touch to lose large sways of territory.
1. Jake Woolmore - 7
Making his 100th appearance for the Bears the loosehead performed well at the scrum to give the hosts a platform to attack from, winning a couple of penalties off big Biyi Alo as well. A busy defender.
2. Harry Thacker - 8
The hooker was subtly absolutely pivotal to Bristol Bears’ victory despite not making the eye-catching runs we have become accustomed to.
Twice his quick, clever hands were directly responsible for tries, with a brilliantly out the back offload having broken away from a maul with Elliott Stooke all over him, creating the opening for Eden to burst through for Frisch’s try, and his quick link play under pressure created the overlap for Adeolokun to race in.
Also scored a try off an unstoppable driving maul following a close-range lineout.
3. Max Lahiff - 7
The tighthead was having another good outing until his calf popped and he was forced to withdraw in the 39th minute.
Lahiff picked up his injury while defending a maul and hit the deck in clear pain, as he did his bulk was lost from the drive against Wasps’ setpiece and as a result, the visitors' drive picked up momentum to power Gabriel Oghre over the line.
His presence was noticeably missed in the scrum when he was off the field.
4. Dave Attwood - 7
The big lock was at the heart of Bristol’s defesive work in the tight, combatting two of the top locks in the league in Joe Launchbury and Elliott Stooke.
5. Joe Joyce - 7
The skipper put his shoulder to the wheel throughout as Lam picked his biggest and most experienced second row pairing to ensure the inexperienced backline had a strong setpiece platform and front foot ball to attack from.
A major source of ball at the line out.
6. Chris Vui - 6
The Samoan was Bristol’s top target in the lineout and also made 17 tackles but also missed six.
7. Jake Heenan - 8
The flanker was the epitome of what Pat Lam has been asking for, doing the simple things well while winning the battle at the breakdown despite the likes of Jack Willis on the opposition.
8. Sam Jeffries - 7
Playing at number eight for the first time after skipper Steven Luatua made the decision to drop down to the bench to protect his troublesome calf, the backrower did very well, making a joint team-high 17 tackles, with just one miss while making at least one big turnover.
Replacements
16. Bryan Byrne - 6
17. Yann Thomas - 6
18. Jake Armstrong - 6
19. Steven Luatua - 8
20. Dan Thomas - 7
21. Ioan Lloyd - 6
22. Callum Sheedy - N/A
23. Piers O’Conor - 6.
