A Stephen Myler penalty in the 79th minute saw London Irish drag a draw from the jaws of defeat against Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate on Sunday afternoon.
Despite scoring four second half tries through Nathan Hughes, Charles Piutau, Ed Holmes and Harry Thacker the Bears couldn’t hold on to victory.
Irish crossed th line first in the contest through Ben Meehan and scored two second half tries of their own, through Waisake Naholo and Tom Parton, despite playing the whole half with 14 men after prop Ollie Hoskins was shown a red card just before the stroke of half time when he struck Chris Vui on the head with his shoulder clearing out a ruck.
In the end 10 missed points from kicks for goal from Bristol Bears cost them two points and the chance to beat the Exiles for the first time in the Premiership since 2007.
Bristol Bears rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performances at Ashton Gate.
15. Charles Piutau - 9
The star full back returned from an ankle injury and did not disappoint. He scored a try and broke the line for fun to finish with 201 metres in attack, two clean breaks and 12 defenders beaten. Those are scary individual numbers. He was the official man of the match and understandably so.
14. Luke Morahan - 7
The winger played a key part in Piutau’s try as came off his wing looking for work. His speed makes him a constant threat.
13. Piers O’Conor - 6
The centre played a vital part in Charles Piutau’s try picking up a bouncing pass from Toby Fricker to instinctively flick the ball onto the full back. Made just three metres in attack.
12. Siale Piutau - 7
The Tongan made a couple of beautiful line breaks but Bristol failed to capitalise from his sieves through the London Irish defence. Made 27 metres, beat two defenders and got one offload away.
11. Toby Fricker - 7
The winger, who was discovered playing in the Welsh Premiership, looks to the man born. In his first start in the Gallagher Premiership he stretched Irish down the flanks with his pace and helped set-up Piutau’s try. Barely put a foot wrong.
10. Callum Sheedy - 5
The fly-half missed three kicks at goal, hitting the upright twice. His two penalty misses and one conversion missed eventually cost the Bears the game. Bristol never had full control of the game and the finger has to be pointed in part at the half backs. He finished with five points.
9. Andy Uren - 5
The scrum half had a disappointing game which is kicking game letting him down on a couple of occasions with box kicks going straight into touch when he was outside of his 22. Harry Randall made an impression when he came on bringing some added zip.
1. Jake Woolmore - 8
The prop made 11 tackles and was part of a dominant scrum.
2. Harry Thacker - 9
The hooker had his best game of the season as he made 116 metres in attack and seemed undefendable at times, beating eight defenders with a game high three clean breaks. The lineouts were also faultless.
3. John Afoa - 7
The prop put in 15 tackles and was part of a dominant scrum which was somewhat hobbled by the fact the game went to uncontested scrums in the final quarter. He picked up a yellow card in the 72nd minute
4. Joe Joyce - 7
The second row showed some silky hands to set Ed Holmes away for his impressive try in the second half. He ran himself into the ground for the cause.
5. Chris Vui - 7
The lock was not at his ball carrying best, making the hard yards rather than stretching his legs in the open, finishing with 11 metres from seven carries. However he also made 10 passes, one of which released Harry Thacker to score what should have been the game winning try.
6. Steven Luatua - 8
The skipper topped the tackle count for the entire game with 17 completed and he offered plenty in attack as well with his offloads causing the Exiles huge problems in defence.
7. Dan Thomas - 6
The openside flanker picked up a groin injury in the first half and had to depart early to be replaced by Luke Hamilton.
8. Nathan Hughes - 8
The number eight score a try after a nice break from Harry Thacker and had another busy game as he carried the ball 16 times to make 74 metres in attack with 6 defenders beaten. A couple of times he got isolated and turned over trying to do too much by himself.
Replacements:
16. Will Capon N/A, 17. Yann Thomas - 5, 18. Max Lahiff - N/A, 19. Ed Holmes - 8, 20. Luke Hamilton - 5, 21. Harry Randall - 7, 22. Ioan Lloyd - 6 23. Alapati Leiua - 6.
