It was another good victory for the Bears in Europe on Friday and despite the frustrating five-point deduction for fielding Elliot Stooke as an ineligible player in the first two rounds, the bonus point win and results elsewhere means that we have secured a home tie in the Round of 16 against Clermont Auvergne.
They may not be as powerful a French force as they were when they helped themselves to 51 points at Ashton Gate back in 2020 but they are definitely the sort of team we want to see visiting BS3 on a more regular basis. It’s just a shame that without the admin error we would have finished top of our pool with guaranteed home games all through the knockout stages.
As for the tie itself, it highlighted how we continue to search for that elusive 80-minute performance and it's hard to understand why we didn't fire a shot in the second half after laying siege in the first. Was it because the opposition upped their game or was it because we took our foot off the pedal?
