No moan over Kyle red from Murphy

KYLE Eastmond’s red card drew no complaint from Tigers boss Geordan Murphy.

He said: “Barnsey (Wayne Barnes) is one of the best refs and he deemed it head-high – that’s the law.

“It killed us against Bristol, who want to throw the ball around. We could probably have pulled the boys off then and said, ‘Okay, that’s a five-pointer’.”

Tigers skipper George Ford admitted his side had been outplayed. “Bristol were clinical and we’re going to have to be hard on each other this week. We say it every week but this is a reality check and we’re going to have to fix things quick with two big European games against Racing coming up.”

Confidence is growing that Bristol can be a top six side. Boss Pat Lam said: “In the context of our season, it’s a massive result. From three games in this block we’ve taken eight points from Exeter, Wasps and Leicester and we know we were robbed of three points against Exeter.”

Of Thacker’s heroics, Lam added: “He’s had a dream day against his old club. I knew he was a good player and it’s great to see him enjoying himself.”