May’s finish kills off Bristol revival and raises Tigers’ hopes
Without a doubt there is still some roar left in Leicester Tigers. Both Ellis Genge and George Ford celebrated their new contracts by scoring tries as the Premiership’s struggling giants saw off a Bristol fightback for their first league win since November, piling the pressure on relegation rivals London Irish and Wasps ahead of their respective matches today.
Jonny May’s second try six minutes from time eased Leicester’s worries after they had seen a 15-point, half-time advantage disappear and helped to secure the bonus point.
It was only Leicester’s second Premiership victory of the season, leaving them tied on 11 points with Wasps and 18 clear of bottom-placed Saracens.
Geordan Murphy, the Leicester director of rugby, said: “After that [Bristol surge] we could have folded. I would not have been overly pleased with that. I thought the boys got back on task, got a penalty that settled our nerves, and to get the bonus-point try with a backline move was pleasing.
“We are going to win games this season, teams are going to knock each other off and it is going to be very tight.”
Buoyed by the announcement of new deals for Genge and Ford, among others, and motivated to send longterm scrum-half Sam Harrison off on a high ahead of his retirement, Leicester snapped out of their recent slump, building on the flickers of promise shown in last week’s draw with Harlequins.
They made hard work of getting there, but eventually gave Harrison the farewell he deserved on his 178th and final game.
Bristol might have arrived at Welford Road just outside the top four but their form has been poor, recently thrashed by Saracens before Wasps stunned the Bears late on at Ashton Gate last week. This was another disappointing result to add that collection, compounded by a serious ankle injury to star full-back Charles Piutau.
“He is not great – that makes it doubly worse, I think his knee and a broken nose,” Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam revealed. “It doesn’t look good for a few weeks now and Jonny Afoa has done his ribs too.
“I showed the boys at half-time the clips and told them they would be shocked, as we were unrecognisable of what we do. Two yellow cards, too. I said it was a great challenge and we had been there before and could work back. It ebbed and flowed, we got ourselves back and blew it at the end.”
Lam’s side were instantly up against things here. Fittingly it was Genge, heavily linked with a return to Bristol before signing his extension, who gave Leicester the start they needed, pummelling his way through tacklers from short range to score after two minutes.
The England prop’s boots featured an iconic image of Muhammad Ali, along with the inscription “Every tongue must confess”, a reference to Don King’s famous speech billing Ali as the greatest of all time. Genge’s try was no knockout punch but it was certainly a hint to Bristol about the first-half barrage coming their way.
Bristol responded with a Callum Sheedy penalty before being reduced to 14 men, after Jordan Lay was sinbinned for a high shot on Telusa Veainu. Sheedy’s second penalty cut the deficit to a point before Bristol saw yellow again, Alapati Leiua penalised for a deliberate knock-down.
With a two-man advantage Leicester went the length of the field, after a break by Ford and a Kyle Eastmond pass gave Veainu and May the space for the England wing to touch down.
Ford then sliced through to score from 25 metres out with a classy finish. Despite Bristol hammering on the door, Leicester took a robust 21-6 lead into the break.
They might have come out with their minds on the bonus point, but Bristol responded by scoring two tries in as many minutes.
Daniel Thomas crashed over, before Sheedy’s chip over the top was chased down by Piers O’Conor, the promising back’s perseverance rewarded with a perfect bounce before showing enough pace and power to hold off the defence.
Even given the state of Leicester’s season this was a remarkable collapse but Ford’s penalty, from 40 metres out to make it 24-18, eased some of the pressure.
Bristol however were always in range, largely thanks to O’Conor’s exceptional ball-carrying, until Leicester broke clear with Veainu putting May away again to wrap up a result that Leicester desperately needed.