Bristol and Leicester drawn at Ashton Gate after incident packed game
Bristol halted a run of six successive Gallagher Premiership defeats by fighting back to draw 26-26 with Leicester at Ashton Gate.
Champions Leicester looked well on their way to victory, but replacement prop Francois van Wyk was sent off 16 minutes from time and Bristol punished the 14-man Tigers by scoring two converted tries as hooker Bryan Byrne and wing Gabriel Ibitoye struck.
Van Wyk was red-carded for a high challenge on England and Bristol prop Ellis Genge, and the home side even had a chance to win it with the game’s final kick, but AJ MacGinty sent a 40-metre penalty narrowly wide.
Genge, who captained Tigers to the league title last season, saw his former team-mates threaten to move into the play-off zone.
First-half tries by centre Dan Kelly, wing Chris Ashton and hooker Julian Montoya put Leicester in the driving seat, while fly-half Freddie Burns added a conversion and three penalties.
Bristol, without a Premiership win since they toppled London Irish on September 24, led 12-6 midway through the second quarter.
Centre Semi Radradra marked his comeback from injury with an early try, then full-back Charles Piutau added a slick second score, converted by Callum Sheedy.
But a 29th-minute yellow card for Radradra proved costly, with Leicester posting two tries while he was out of action, until the late Bristol tries, both converted by MacGinty.
Radradra made his first Bristol appearance since April after undergoing knee surgery, while wing Deago Bailey replaced an injured Luke Morahan and two back-row changes saw starts for Sam Lewis and Jake Heenan.
England pair Freddie Steward and Ben Youngs returned from Autumn Nations Series duty, with Jack can Poortvliet on the bench, Kelly featured for the first time this season following his recovery from injury, and lock Ollie Chessum also returned.
Bristol had dropped to the Premiership basement following London Irish’s victory over Newcastle earlier on Saturday, but they started in confident mood.
Lewis was tackled just short of the line as Bristol pressed, but a supporting Radradra proved unstoppable from three metres out, and Leicester trailed after just five minutes.
Leicester were slow out of the blocks in comparison, yet they began to stir through number eight Jasper Wiese’s midfield break and scrum-half Ben Youngs charging down an attempted Sheedy clearance.
Burns then opened their account with a 16th-minute penalty, and a second strike shortly afterwards nudged his team ahead.
The lead, though, proved short-lived as Bristol conjured a second try when Genge’s audacious flick-pass found Sheedy and his pinpoint delivery sent Piutau clear to score before Sheedy added the touchline conversion.
It was impressive from Bristol but Radradra was then sin-binned following a reckless challenge on Burns, putting his team under pressure as Leicester pounced.
Kelly rewarded Tigers’ patience by touching down for their first try, then Ashton struck with Radradra still off the pitch, claiming his 98th Premiership touchdown.
Burns rejoined the action after passing a head injury assessment following the Radradra incident, and Bristol could not escape from a vice-like grip.
And it was no surprise when the Tigers collected a third try on the stroke of half-time as Montoya crossed, before Burns’ conversion opened up a 23-12 interval advantage.
A scoreless third quarter threatened to put Bristol well and truly out of the contest and Burns completed a penalty hat-trick that left the home side two converted tries behind.
But Byrne powered over for Bristol’s third try, converted by MacGinty, with Van Wyk then sent off for his challenge on Genge, leaving Tigers permanently down to 14 players.
And Bristol drew level when Ibitoye touched down following outstanding work by Genge, with MacGinty’s conversion denying Leicester the win.
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John, McKenzie was 10 years ago and he only lasted 15 months until the disgustingly unfair affair that brought him down. I thought that if he didn't get another gig over Eddie V2 then he was done. I read that he had been approached but declined to put his name in the ring.
There are no potential Wallaby coaches outside of McKellar unless you have some inside info?
Go to commentsThe way they are defending is sometime pathetic to be honest. Itoje is usually on the inside of the rush and he is paired with a slower tight forward. Unable to keep up with the rush we have seen the line become disconnected on the inside where the big boys are. How many times have we seen Earl rush past the first receiver almost into no mans land covering no attacker. It looks like a system without any guidance. Tome Wright, Ikitau and a number of Wallabies went back to this soft centre as did Williams, Jordan and several others. Also when the line is broken the multiple lines of defence seems to be missing. The rush is predicated on a cover and recovery system with multiple lines of defence but with England you dont see it any more. Fitness and conditioning seems to be off as well as players are struggling to keep up with the intensity of the rush. Felix Jones has left a huge hole. The whole situation was and is a mess. Why they insist on not letting him go and having him work remotely is beyond me. Its leading to massive negative press and is a hot button issue thats distracting from the squad. Also the communication around Jones and his role has been absolute rubbish and is totally disjointed. While some say he is working remotely and playing a role others are saying theres been no contact. His role has not been defined and so people keep asking and keep getting different answers. England need a clean break from him and need to start over. Whatever reason for his leaving its time to cut the rope before the saga drags the whole Borthwick regime down. As for Joe El Abd well good luck to him. He is being made to look like an amateur by the whole saga and he is being asked to coach a system thats not his and which has been perfected and honed since 2017 by Nienaber, Jones, Erasmus and Co and which was first started by White in 2004. He is literally trying to figure out a system pioneered by double world cup winning coaches at the highest level and coach it at the same time. Talk about being on a hiding to nothing.
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