Bristol prove a tough side to beat

By TigerR
May 9 2007

Welford Road was a couple of thousand short of full on a sunny afternoon as the team with the best defensive record in the league came to try to stop Tigers reaching their third final of the season. They failed but left with their honour intact. Danny Gray, Bristol's fly half, kicked an early penalty to give Bristol a 3-0 lead.

Bristol’s initial spell of pressure was broken when Tom Varndell caught Andy Goode’s quick 22 drop-out and sped into the Bristol half.  Shortly after this, a clearance kick from Bristol was caught by Geordan Murphy, who was incisive all match, and he found a hole in the Bristol defence to carry the ball 40 metres forward to maintain the Tigers pressure. The Bristol denfence buckled when Harry Ellis spn off the back of a maul, slipped a tackle and dived over under the posts. Goode’s conversion gave Leicetser the lead at 7-3. The pace was unrelenting and the tackles full blooded as Tigers used their forwards to make valuable yards.   Bristol were tempted offside and Goode put over the penalty to stretch the lead to 7 points.  Gray quickly cancelled Goode’s effort with another penalty goal after Tigers had been penalised for pulling down at a lineout. The kicking fest continued when Bristol were penalised for not rolling away and Goode kicked from the 10-metre line; 13-6 to Leicester.  Then Tigers were caught coming in at the side of a ruck near their own line and Gray made it 13-9. Bristol were caught offside at the ruck from the restart but Goode struck the post with his kick. Bristol's tight head prop Darren Crompton knocked on as he tried to gather the ball resulting in an attacking scrum for the Tigers.  Quick ball along the backs saw Hipkiss push Bristol back, Varndell cut in off the wing and Murphy provided the support to push his way over the line assisted by Moody.  Goode converted the try to make the score 20-9, which was unchanged to half time. Bristol struck almost from the kick off in the second half when centre Sam Cox cut an excellent line through the Tigers backline to score to the right of the posts. Gray put the conversion narrowly wide, but Bristol were just six points down. Alesana Tuilagi replaced a limping Varndell, and the Tigers attacked the Bristol line, with Goode and then Corry stopped just short. Then Goode’s slow grubber hit the post. Bristol were able to smother but Tigers had the attacking scrum in front of the posts. With Julian White on in place of Alex Moreno, Tigers earned a penalty at the scrum, which Goode was able to make the score 23-14. Ollie Smith replaced an injured Vesty.  Bristol enjoyed period of possession and territory before determined tackling and rucking earned a turnover for the Tigers and a Goode special pushed Tigers up field again.  A typical Hipkiss ‘run’ into the Bristol 22 lead to more points when they were offside in front of their posts and  Goode chipped over to make it 26-14. Frank Murphy replaced Ellis who had picked up a serious looking knee injury as the game reached its last quarter with Tigers ahead by 12 points.  Tuilagi produced a try-saving tackle as David Lemi danced almost to the Tigers line, but Alex also received a yellow card for not releasing Lemi after the tackle. Bristol opted for a scrum from the penalty and, with Lewis Moody on the wing, the seven-man Tigers scrum stood firm.  Bristol went wide but a Bristol pass missed all the target runners and floated into touch.  Tigers made sure of the victory by retaining possession for most of the remaining minutes of the game. 

This was not a vintage performance from the Tigers.  The first half was fine but the second laboured.  Several scrums were lost against the head in the last ten minutes and Andy Goode make a complete horlicks of one clearance kick.  We gave away too many penalties.  Bristol were very physical and several Tigers will be struggling to be fit for Saturday.  It reminded me of the victory over Sale which earned a final berth against an impressive looking Ospreys.  Let’s hope the Tigers can bounce back once more and surprise Gloucester.