I’m really proud of the guys, beams boss Lam
LONDONIRISH BRISTOL 33 45
BRISTOL Bears have made a habit of squandering leads, so there was real pride for Pat Lam at seeing the resolve shown by his team in their high-scoring victory over London Irish.
The Bears saw a 19-0 lead erased at Brentford Community Stadium, three yellow cards not helping as Irish levelled the scores shortly after half-time.
However, rather than crumble, Bristol fought back and eventually secured a bonus-point success, just their second win of the Gallagher Premiership season, with director of rugby Lam delighted.
He said: “I’m really proud of the guys, we’ve come back and we’ve talked about our game and having no fear and getting back into the flow of our game.
“We started really well, but we knew when we were at 12 men, that was a phenomenal effort, we knew it would take its toll, but not how much, and sure they came back to 19-19, but real credit to the guys. Obviously it could have been deja vu, but the resolve of the guys to keep playing, keep defending and show no fear again was great.
“All three yellows were harsh, but it’s not about being a victim, it’s about being a fighter about it.
“There was so much body-on-theline stuff and real pride in being a Bear. It is what it is, and you’ll get calls for you and against you, but it’s about how you handle it.”
The Bears scored tries through Jake Heenan, Toby Fricker, Jack Bates, Piers O’Conor and Harry Thacker.
The Exiles made a disastrous start as Bristol ran in three of those tries in the first 20 minutes.
Despite the fightback, however, they eventually came away with just one point and director of rugby Declan Kidney was understandably frustrated, coming off the back of last week’s bonus-point success at Exeter.
He said: “You have to look at the whole game, the first ten minutes we were probably inside the 22 three times and we didn’t get any points in those three opportunities. We did score five tries, we scrambled well on occasions, but once again there’s big learnings for us in this match.
“The big thing is it’s week on week this competition, it’s not that we didn’t front up for it, we showed that in the way we started, but you have to stay on point every minute of every match because the opposition, they’re good opposition and if you give them space they’ll take it.
“I like the way we operated as a team, because that’s what we are, you have all these hidden moments and unseen efforts, that’s why I’m always slow to pick out one guy because sometimes the try scorers are picked out, but there was a lot of good shifts put in by a lot of players.” London Irish: Parton; Stokes, Rona, Van Rensburg Hassell-Collins; Jackson, Phipps; Goodrick-Clarke, Willemse, Hoskins, Mafi, Simmons, Rogerson, Curtis-Harris, Tuisue. Replacements: Rowe for Stokes (59), Hepetema for Rona (49), Creevy for Willemse (56), van der Merwe for Hoskins (56), Cooke for Curtis-Harris (68). Not Used: Dell, Nott, White.
Scorers – Tries: Stokes, Willemse, Rogerson, Hepetema Rowe. Cons: Jackson 4.
Sin Bin: Tuisue (47).
Bristol: Piutau; Morahan, Bates, O’Conor, Fricker; Sheedy, Uren; Y Thomas, Kerr, Afoa, Attwood, Joyce, Jeffries, Heenan, Harding. Replacements: Whiteley for Uren (58), Armstrong for Y Thomas (79), Thacker for Kerr (58), Lahiff for Afoa (68), D Thomas for Jeffries (59), Lloyd for Harding (79). Not Used: Hawkins, Leiua.
Scorers – Tries: Heenan, Fricker, Bates, O’Conor,
Thacker. Cons: Sheedy 4. Pens: Sheedy 4.
Sin Bin: Heenan (32), Piutau (34), Uren (37).
Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU).