By Mike Hill
May 6 2002

Bristol comprehensively outplayed Leicester in this entertaining and occasionally brutal encounter. Tigers had made wholesale changes from last week's line-up and it showed from the outset. The Bristol forwards got the upper hand, and the impressive backline broke down Tigers defence.

Bristol 38 - Tigers 21

With nothing at stake it was always going to be difficult for Leicester to win this match. Bristol on the other hand were playing to secure the final Zurich Championship play off place for finishing eighth. The dubious reward for their efforts could well be to come to Welford Road in a fortnight and face Tigers first choice side in the final warm up match before the big one in Cardiff.

Fly half headache for Deano

Geordan picked up a knock in the first half and looked out of sorts throughout. Leon was woefully poor he missed numerous tackles, wasted overlaps and never looked like making an impact on the game. Unless he can sort himself out in the next fortnight he won't start the final. The only backs to distinguish themselves were Gelderbloom and Harry Ellis when he came on. Andy Goode also seems to be suffering from a lack of form and confidence which is also worrying given Austin's recent performances at ten.

Bristol showed lots of desire and no little skill as they racked up four tries but some uncharacteristically weak tackling by the champions helped their cause. Phil Christophers (ex Tiger) and Lee Best impressed throughout with their pace, skill and decisive play, attributes missing in the Tigers backline.

Tigers started badly and Bristol raced into a 27 -0 lead scoring three tries before halftime from Higgins, Little and Contepomi. The Argentine fly half enjoyed a successful afternoon scoring 23 of his sides points and in partnership with fellow countryman Pichot controlled the game for the home side. Geordan touched down late in the first half as Leicester started the fightback to go into the break 27 -11 behind thanks to a couple of Andy Goode penalties.

Inconsistent refereeing blighting the game

Unfortunately both sides started the second half with only 14 players each as Adam Balding and Julian White were red carded for fighting just before the interval. On balance it was probably the right decision since that is what the law of the game demands. The problem is the inconsistency with which referee's interpret the rules. How many times this season has a more violent incident gone unpunished or resulted in just a yellow card.

Later on in the second half Archer and Short were equally as guilty (although Archer seemed to be holding Peter down and hitting him) and following the first half example both should have seen red. Yet a telling off is now suddenly sufficient whilst Adam and Julian White have to face a disciplinary committee. Will both players now receive the same length of ban that Martin Johnson received for a similar act? I doubt it, the RFU seems to decide the length of bans in proportion to media interest so expect much less.

Although they eventually made the score respectable Tigers were never close to winning after Phil Christophers had scored his teams fourth try after ten minutes of the second half. Two more Tigers tries were scored after the break. Gelderbloom enjoyed a good second half, putting Josh Kronfeld away for an easy run in before grabbing one himself. Andy Goode missed a couple of penalties and conversions that would have seen us within striking range but instead the game just drifted to a close.