Pat Lam, the director of rugby at Bristol, stated that he never lost hope that his team would defeat Leicester 21–19 in the Gallagher Premiership comeback game at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
Lam and his team were behind 19-0 against a Tigers team that needed to win to maintain their dwindling play-off aspirations, so one might have understood them for believing that this was not going to be their day.
Rather, after Mike Brown of Leicester was sent off, Magnus Bradbury scored a last-ditch try to lead Bristol to an incredible comeback that kept them fourth in the standings, above of Harlequins on points differential.
Lam stated: “I was looking at the clock and said, ‘Keep going, keep believing,’ because I knew we could score four or five tries in ten to fifteen minutes.”
“For this reason, I demonstrated to them at halftime that there were many opportunities here and that they were doing precisely what we are doing; let’s just make sure we complete the necessary tasks.”We simply weren’t accurate enough, and some players weren’t in the ideal spots (in the first half), so they knew that if we don’t try to create an opportunity, someone would breach the line and get to them.
Francois Van Wyk’s close-range try and two tries by Ollie Hassell-Collins gave Leicester what appeared to be a decisive lead.
But after Brown was given a second yellow card for a head-on collision with Benhard Janse Van Rensburg, Max Lahiff scored, and then Alan MacGinty’s conversion of Bradbury’s last-minute try sealed an incredible comeback.
“In the end, Brownie’s second card hurt us – 19-7 up, we were well in control of that game,” Leicester head coach Dan McKellar stated.
“(We had) a line-out in the A-zone, but it was actually a penalty against you. With 14, they’re a formidable opponent.
“We played a great game for about 70 minutes, and I can’t believe I’m sitting here as a losing coach,” the coach said.
“We simply must take stock of the entire year; considering Sale, Harlequins, Gloucester, and now Bristol, it was another very close loss here at home.
After winning those close games at home, you find yourself comfortably positioned in the top four.
There are many lessons to be learned from this year, but we’ll examine them all, evaluate them, and make sure we’ve improved as a result when the time is appropriate.
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