Perfection will come eventually says Lam
BRISTOL registered their first back-to-back wins of the season, but their revival after a ropey start to the campaign was aided by a Worcester’s huge wastefulness.
The Warriors had three tries chalked off, although to their credit they also scored a touchdown of gravity-defying athleticism from with wing Noah Heward that earned the generous applause of the Bristol fans.
The Bears may have registered a bonus-point win after Toby Fricker scored a brace, but they remain a team lacking the easy smoothness of last season’s glorious attacking play.
Not that Pat Lam sees this mid-season imperfection as a flaw. “It’s not about being perfect now,” he said. “It’s about being perfect when we need to be.”
The director of rugby added: “We can take this adversity and use it to bounce back. Our performances in the last couple of weeks have significantly improved, and we are seeing good moments in bits and pieces.”
For Worcester it was a familiar tale of woe away from home as they recorded their 15th straight loss on the road. They trailed by just 3-0 after 35 minutes, but two quick tries just before the break put the Bears in a posithe
tion of control that they never looked like surrendering.
Luke Morahan was a consistent threat from deep, while the pain for Bristol of
enforced absence of skipper Steven Luatua was eased by the attacking mobility of their loose forward division.
Ollie Lawrence was a late withdrawal for Warriors – the second time in three weeks he has pulled out with the a calf problem – with Ashley Beck replacing him. Joe Batley also came into the starting line-up due to a hip injury to Kyle Hatherell.
Early slick handling by Bristol resulted in a ruck penalty which Callum Sheedy slotted. But the opening quarter was played almost exclusively in the Bristol half. Taking a leaf out of the Bears’ book, Warriors weren’t afraid to throw the ball wide and looked the more settled, dangerous side.
Indeed, Worcester crossed the try-line twice early on but had both chalked off, the first after the pack muscled over but was held up, the second after a forward pass. In short, it was a recurrence of a chronic ailment of Worcester’s: a failure to take their chances.
Unable to cross the whitewash, Worcester opted for a shot on goal on 20 minutes, but Fin Smith’s thumping kick went wide. And with that miss, the momentum shifted.
There are few Premiership centres who read the game better than Piers O’Conor, and the Bristol back’s decision to change the angle of attack put Charles Piutau and Alapati Leiua through a gap and the Bears came within a whisker of a try.
That passage of play served as a catalyst for Bristol, and the home pack’s dominance provided the platform for wing Fricker to polish off an intelligent strike move. Morahan then sliced through Worcester’s defence from the restart, and flanker Sam Jeffries showed the wheels of a winger to score in the corner.
After the break, Heward’s sensational acrobatic finish got Worcester on the scoreboard, but a slaloming run by Tom Whiteley, the livewire replacement scrumhalf, soon restored Bristol’s cushion.
Worcester had their third potential try scrubbed off, again due to a forward pass, and the visitors’ defensive organisation ebbed away to allow Fricker to grab his second and secure the five championship points for Bristol.