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Radradra stars as Bristol edge out Leicester to secure home semi-final

By PA
(Photo by PA)

Semi Radradra scored two tries as Bristol secured a home semi-final in the Gallagher Premiership play-offs with a 26-23 bonus-point victory over Leicester in a pulsating game at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

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Bristol’s win leaves them eight points clear at the Premiership summit and a home win over London Irish next Saturday will ensure that they finish top of the pile.

They gave the battling Tigers a lesson in chance taking with Max Malins and Harry Randall adding to Radradra’s efforts, with Callum Sheedy converting three of the four scores.

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Hanro Liebenberg and Julian Montoya scored Leicester’s tries in the second half, with Johnny McPhillips kicking three penalties and two conversions.

Bristol received a pre-match blow when Kyle Sinckler withdrew with a hamstring injury with John Afoa stepping up from the bench to replace him.

Bears soon suffered another setback when Radradra fumbled the kick-off to give the Tigers the chance of an early score. Roared on by a crowd of 4,000, the hosts threatened the try-line but poor handling at crucial times cost them dear.

However, they were still first on the scoreboard when McPhillips, playing at fly-half in place of George Ford, kicked a straightforward penalty.

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The home side then lost wing Harry Potter to injury with Fijian Nemani Nadolo coming on to replace him.

McPhillips’ penalty was the only score of an evenly-contested first quarter before Bears conjured up the first try of the game.

On their own 22, the visitors looked to be going nowhere but a neat off-load from Malins sent Siale Piutau away on a 45-metre run before the centre’s long pass provided Radradra with an easy run-in.

Leicester Tigers v Bristol Bears - Gallagher Premiership - Mattioli Woods Welford Road

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McPhillips succeeded with another penalty but Bristol responded with their second try.

On halfway, Randall, who was playing his first Premiership game since January, quickly took a short penalty before darting away to brush off some weak tackling and score. Sheedy’s conversion gave the visitors a 14-6 interval lead.

After the restart, McPhillips kicked his third penalty to keep Tigers in contention but their impetus continued to be hindered by the loss of line-outs on their own throw.

Leicester Tigers v Bristol Bears - Gallagher Premiership - Mattioli Woods Welford Road

Leicester brought on their South African powerhouse Jasper Wiese in the back row and they immediately won a scrum penalty but McPhillips was off-target with a 45-metre kick.

Tigers’ next replacement was scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth, who became the first player to reach 300 appearances in the Premiership when he was brought on.

The hosts continued to dominate the second half and were rewarded with a try from Liebenberg who was on the end of a scoring pass from McPhillips.

Leicester Tigers v Bristol Bears - Gallagher Premiership - Mattioli Woods Welford Road

However, Bristol immediately replied with a superb try when Sheedy’s well-timed pass sent Malins on an unopposed 60-metre run to the line.

Minutes later Bears had another when Leicester lost possession in their own half for Radradra to score his second of the game.

Bristol were not home and dry yet though, and they lost Jake Kerr to the sin-bin for dragging down a maul and Leicester immediately capitalised when Montoya finished off a driving maul.

But despite being placed under enormous pressure in the closing stages, Bristol just held on with 14 men having lost Nahuel Chaparro to a yellow card.

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Bull Shark 2 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

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