Ice-cool Callum lands late winner for Bears
BRISTOL extended their lead at the Premiership summit to 12 points after two late converted tries somehow redeemed a chaotic second-half performance.
Rugby has of late produced a clutch of finales that have beggared belief and here was another. Harlequins, marshalled superbly by Danny Care, had dominated the second period and were 33-21 up with five minutes to go.
But Bristol reverted to their driving maul, and the Bears pack – supplemented by the unerringly accurate kicking of Callum Sheedy – won it at the death.
It has been quite a month for Wales fly-half Sheedy, who missed the Six Nations Championship presentation to play his 100th game for Bristol.
Bristol boss Pat Lam said: “As a group we acknowledged Callum and Wales before the game and we have a presentation for him.
“He nailed the kick. And if you watched what he did against England he can do these pressure kicks.”
Lam breathed a sigh of relief as his side opted for a tighter approach in the game’s dying minutes in contrast to the more expansive, error-strewn earlier stages.
“If we try to fling the ball around and hope for something to happen it normally breaks down,” said Lam, whose side nevertheless displayed some moments of delicious attacking audacity.
It was a match that swung between sublimity and mayhem. Bristol displayed early freewheeling intent with some canters out of their own 22.
Dave Attwood initiated a move down the right and the lock finished off the counter-attack when he collected a ricocheting ball and ran in unopposed.
But Bristol’s early discipline was atrocious. Five penalties in the first ten minutes gave Quins plenty of opportunity to fine-tune their lineout drive, and
when Ben Earl illegally halted a maul referee Hamish Smales awarded a penalty try and sent Earl to the bin.
The Bears lost skipper Steve Luatua to injury but managed to weather Earl’s spell in the cooler without conceding. Indeed, they took the lead when a smart inside line by Henry Purdy and canny offloading by Semi Radradra and Bryan Byrne put replacement Fitz Harding through.
Once back on the pitch, Earl was soon on the receiving end of an illjudged and ill-executed pass from Andy Uren. As Earl attempted to tidy up
he was stripped by Care whose opportunistic try was beautifully converted by Smith.
A compelling half became even more absorbing when Radradra ran a bulldozing line at first receiver and somehow managed to pop the ball up for Piers O’Conor, who scored Bristol’s third.
A Smith penalty either side of half-time made it 21-20 to the hosts and it would have taken a fool to confidently predict the outcome.
The game continued to be peppered with moments of skill but Bristol were struggling to find rhythm.
Another moment of opportunism by Care saw him slot a drop-goal to put Harlequins ahead.
Joe Marchant appeared to land the decisive score, and when Smith converted and swiftly added a penalty Quins looked comfortable.
Just when their cause looked lost, Bristol were awarded a penalty try and Marchant yellow-carded for illicitly stopping a lineout drive, making it 33-28 to Quins. Kyle Sinckler, playing against his former club, then rounded off another maul with the clock dead, and the ice-cool Sheedy stepped forward to finish the job.