Saturday’s game at Sixways reminded me of a spaghetti western - the gun-toting Bristol Bears rode into wildest Worcestershire with just enough firepower to come away with the spoils.
Whilst undoubtedly the reconditioned Siva Naulago will take the starring role for his brilliant hat-trick, there were many supporting roles from the rest of the cast.
Henry Purdy opened his cabinet, showcasing everything in his armory with his constantly rampaging forward runs and making an impressive 111 metres; begging the question has there been a better bargain signing from the Championship, apart from possibly Piers O’Conor?
Adeolokun was exemplary too, solid in defence, pacy in attack and assured under the high ball.
The return of Sheedy was also key to a more controlled game plan. The calmness he brings to our set up cannot be emphasized enough, from his outrageous looping pass out to Siva for our first try to the audacious caress off his right peg for the second.
Callum is pivotal to everything we do and his ice-cold kick sealed the victory.
In addition Uren orchestrated everything in the middle, the king of Southmead oiled his loins and reigned supreme in the second row, ably supported by Vui and young debutante Fitz Harding.
Our Superman Captain, Steven Luatua was... well Luatua!
We should remember that this was a Bears squad which has been decimated by injuries to big name stars like Piutau, Radradra, Morahan, and Hughes all out plus our England internationals still absent.
But Pat Lam doesn’t do excuses; he snarls in the face of adversity, he has instilled such a belief in the squad and the system that whoever steps onto the field has a confidence and swagger to express themselves freely on the pitch and to play with no fear.
Some of our angles and running lines were so filthy they should have come with an X-rated certificate. We even managed to close out the last five minutes of the game without me grinding my nails to the bone for once.
After coming through all the recent adversity we spring forward into next week’s fixture against an also depleted Wasps side.
We’re sitting proudly six points clear at the top of the summit of English rugby, and a points difference of 102. How good does that feel?
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