Lam blasts officials for ‘cheap shot’ on Semi
PAT LAM pleaded with officials to safeguard his players, and in particular star man Semi Radradra, after the Fijian’s masterclass inspired Bears to their first win at Sixways in 14 years.
Bristol director of rugby Lam said: “Semi has been waiting for a dry day as he can make things out of nothing. He was on fire, but then he’s on the end of a forearm to the face.
“It was a cheap shot. The TMO saw it but the referee wasn’t given the correct replays – yet the officials spend ages trawling through footage, which resulted in one of our tries being ruled out. Hopefully officials will learn from this.
“Our own discipline was poor; pre-Covid we were on eight penalties per game now we are averaging 17. We were sloppy and had no possession in the second quarter and it took a couple of runs from Harry Randall to give us some tempo.”
Until then Bristol were disjointed with the combative Warriors ripping into them. Melani Nanai, returning after a three week suspension following his red card at Gloucester, had his best game for the club and, with Duncan Weir probing intelligently, they deserved more than their three-point lead at half-time.
Then Bristol’s superior talent emerged as Nathan Hughes became more influential and it says much for Bears’ strength in depth that they brought on a player as good as Ben Earl.
Randall was a livewire throughout with Radradra a class apart,which helped Siale Piutau to produce an all-action performance.
Radradra set the ball rolling by ripping the defence apart on a 40m burst before handing on to Piutau, but desperate covering from Warriors saw them snuff out the danger.
However Piutau was soon back in action as he and Randall made the running for Ed Holmes to score the opener.
Worcester responded when Nanai sent Anton Bresler crashing over but the try was ruled out as the lock was deemed not to have grounded the ball.
Weir kicked a penalty before the hosts were again denied by the TMO with Tom Howe’s effort disallowed for a foot in touch.
Worcester’s luck had to change and it did when Weir and Noah Heward both chipped ahead for Nanai to touch down. Weir and Callum Sheedy exchanged penalties to leave Warriors with a 13-10 half-time lead.
A well-timed pass from Randall saw Radradra run 55m before being hauled down but Bears took advantage of their attacking platform with Dan Thomas finishing off a driving lineout.
Bristol lost Randall with a severe cut to his knee but extended their lead when Siale Piutau waltzed through to score.
The visitors appeared to have scored a third try in seven minutes when Radradra’s run gave Earl a chance but the busy TMO, Geoff Warren, intervened to disallow the try for an earlier foot in touch from Henry Purdy.
Earl wasn’t to be denied and he and Andy Uren scored late tries to reward Bristol’s second half dominance.
The game ended in spectacular fashion with Siale Piutau confronting Warriors’ replacement Andrew Kitchener with a cheap punch on the floor.
The lock retaliated by pummelling Piutau with a succession of blows, resulting in a red card for him and a yellow for Piutau.