In theory it was a day for Bristol to consolidate second place and reaffirm their Premiership title credentials. The sun shone, the pitch was hard and fast and the free-scoring Bears welcomed back the inspirational wing, Gabriel Ibitoye, after a four-month injury absence.
In reality what materialised was a largely dominant Leicester victory that took them past their opponents into second, on points difference, with four games remaining. Michael Cheika’s one-year assignment as Tigers coach will soon be over but the possibility of him departing a champion cannot be discounted.
Looming over the buildup was the memory of the game last December when Pat Lam’s side won 54-24 at Welford Road. The Tigers were hurt by that humiliation, no doubt, but might also have reminded themselves that the Bears were thrashed 38-0 by Sale at home a week later.
“For me personally, and for us as a team, we wanted to play this game for the fans,” Cheika said. “We were poor the day they came, and we really wanted to turn that around. I hope they’ll be happy with that performance.”
True to form, Bristol seamlessly switched from the sublime to ridiculous here. Adam Radwan’s try had put Leicester in front when Kalaveti Ravouvou made a burst into the visitors’ 22. The Bears centre looked isolated after being dragged down, but the covering defenders could not have imagined the vision and accuracy of a frankly ludicrous one‑handed offload fizzed to Ibitoye, lurking near the touchline. The wing applied a simple finish. “Fiji flair,” Lam said of Ravouvou’s outrageous skill. “With those Fijian boys, just expect the pass. For him to pull it out like that and for Gabs to read it was class.”
Ireland earned their second Women’s Six Nations win with a 40-14 bonus-point victory over Wales at Rodney Parade. Wales took the lead following a mistake from Ireland wing Amee-Leigh Costigan and the loose ball was quickly scooped up by Carys Cox to ground before Keira Bevan added the extras.
The visitors responded when Linda Djougang broke through the Welsh defence to score before another brilliant spell of pressure on the home try line saw Aoife Wafer able to reach over and ground, with Dannah O’Brien converting both tries. Although Ireland were reduced to 14 when O’Brien was sent to the sin-bin, Dorothy Wall added their third try just before the break and Enya Breen’s resulting kick was successful.
A dominant afternoon for the visitors continued when a driving maul allowed Wall to cross and secure the bonus point before Djougang weaved through to score underneath the posts, with O’Brien converting.
Wales pulled one back through replacement Hannah Bluck, who touched down moments after coming on and Bevan converted, but Wafer extended the visitors’ advantage after breaking from a scrum to score, with Breen’s kick squeezing through the posts to ensure a winless Wales stay bottom. PA Media
Soon came the ridiculous. Ibitoye’s ambitious pass drifted into the grateful hands of Ollie Hassell-Collins, near halfway, gifting the wing a clear run to the line. Jack van Poortvliet scored a third try for Leicester and when Handré Pollard added a penalty to two conversions it created a 22-5 half‑time lead for the Tigers. The only downside for them was losing Joe Heyes to the sin-bin for a high shot on Fitz Harding.
This being Bristol it felt unlikely that Leicester would serenely close out the win. Ravouvou was duly sent scorching under the posts six minutes after the break and when AJ MacGinty converted the Bears trailed by 10. England’s Ollie Chessum was putting in a huge shift at lock, personifying the old‑fashioned mongrel that Cheika insists on, but Bristol’s attacking potency remained a concern.
The basics still had to be done and when the Bears fluffed a lineout on 63 minutes the full-back Freddie Steward applied a classy finish from turnover ball, ghosting easily away from Benjamín Elizalde and securing a Leicester try bonus point. Game over? Not quite. Harry Randall’s sniping effort again made it a 10-point game and Bristol’s offloading excellence continued to ask questions of the tiring Tigers.
After Solomone Kata received Leicester’s second yellow card, Randall touched down again with six minutes left, after being hauled down near the posts by Leicester’s replacement scrum-half Ben Youngs. But Randall had knocked on. A converted try then would have reduced Bristol’s arrears to three with a couple of minutes remaining. It wasn’t to be: Cameron Henderson smashed over for a fifth Leicester try, converted by Jamie Shillcock with the final kick.
Considering Bristol’s tricky run‑in – Northampton and Sale away, Bath and Harlequins at home – if they don’t improve on this performance their season could go south quickly.
“We were just messy,” said Lam, who pointed to Bristol’s injury issues, particularly in the second row. “We’ve got to dust ourselves off, with a six-day turnaround, and go and get some points at Northampton next Saturday. Everyone’s pretty gutted … but if we can get five [points] next week it makes a big difference.”
Chessum said: “We owed it firstly to people back home, after what happened,” referring to that painful thrashing last December. “But we owed it to ourselves, too.” Does he like the idea of a trip to Australia with the British & Irish Lions this summer? “No comment.” Another tight spot successfully negotiated.
