Bristol Bears had their defence punctured eight times by Premiership leaders Leicester Tigers on Saturday in a heavy 56-26 defeat.
Tigers winger Chris Ashton stole the headlines with a hat-trick of tries to move firmly into first place as the Premiership’s all-time top scorer with 95 now.
His treble was added to by Ben Youngs’ first try of the season for Leicester, who led 27-12 at half-time, with Jack Bates and Toby Fricker replying for Bristol before the interval.
Matias Moroni, Freddie Steward, Jasper Wiese and Harry Potter then all ran in for the Tigers after the break, while scores for Harry Thacker and Chris Vui earned the Bears a bonus point in the defeat.
South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the Bristol Bears’ individual performances at Welford Road.
READ MORE: Leicester Tigers 56-26 Bristol Bears LIVE: Reaction and full highlights
15. Ioan Lloyd - 6
Making his return from a broken cheekbone having been promoted into the starting side from the bench late in the day following Charles Piutau’s groin not being fully right, the Welshman made at least two impressive try-saving tackles and was a threat with his footwork, beating six defenders on his way to 136m in attack.
For all his impressive defensive work the Welshman had a moment to forget just two minutes into the second half as he went for a 50/50 bouncing ball only to miss it and allow Moroni to spin and run in under the posts.
Unable to get a hand on Harry Potter after the winger made a break around the edge of a ruck.
14. Toby Fricker - 6
The winger didn’t have a huge amount of ball to work with but that did not stop him scoring his third try in two games, powering over through the attempted tackle of Youngs from close range to score in the corner after 33 minutes.
Stepped by Guy Porter, and picked up a knock to the head for his troubles, in the build-up to Leicester’s fourth try through Youngs.
13. Jack Bates - 7
The 20-year-old proved he has top-end speed as he hitch kicked and raced through a gap few others saw to split centre Guy Port and fly-half Ford with neither Tigers man able to get a finger on him on his way to the try line after nine minutes.
12. Piers O’Conor - 6
The centre combined well to set up the Bears’ first try of the game, attacking off the back of a scrum he cleverly timed his pass to draw in two Leicester defenders before giving the ball to Bates who showed a clean pair of heels.
His passing skills were a highlight with quick hands creating an overlap in the 77th minute for Vui to stroll over as well
Those were the positives, the negatives were he was wrong-footed by Steward as the England full-back cut in against the grain as Bristol’s defence over-committed on their drift out.
Summed up Bristol’s lack of clinicality with a stunning break in the second half only to not give what should have been a scoring pass to Joe Joyce on his shoulder.
11. Henry Purdy - 4
Back in the side after almost a month of being fit but out of the matchday 23 the winger failed to spark as he struggled with the intensity of Leicester Tigers' kick chase, getting caught trying to ambitiously run from deep.
10. Callum Sheedy - 6
The Welshman took a big knock to his face in the 36th minute from Matia Moroni after getting into a dangerously low position while carrying, as a result he lost the ball and moments later Youngs scored in the corner. Sheedy was replaced by Tiff Eden and did not return.
The fly-half looked relatively bright before that with a couple of clever cross-field kicks and some half breaks.
9. Harry Randall - 5
The England international faltered under one of George Ford’s famous spiral bombs early on to hand over possession that directly led to Leicester’s first try of the game in a poor start for the visitors.
Found a couple of gaps in the Leicester defence which his sniping abilities and make a sharp decision to attack down the blindside for Bristol's second try, scored by Fricker.
Potentially falling down the England rankings at nine at the moment.
1. Jake Woolmore - 5
The loosehead was decent in the scrum against all international opposition in frontrow - namely 98 cap former England star Dan Cole - and made 10 tackles while earning one turnover.
2. Harry Thacker - 9
Making his 100th Premiership appearance, 43 of which were for Saturday’s opponents Tigers, the hooker was Bristol’s best player on the pitch and was rewarded with a try most frontrowers could only dream off. Thacker took a flat pass from Tiff Eden to be able to spin out of a tackle from Eli Snyman and then he stepped and rounded the final Leicester defender to score under the posts in the 72nd minute.
The hooker finished with stunning stats, beating six defenders on his way to 83m with ball in hand and actually finished the match playing on the wing due to injuries.
3. John Afoa - 6
With the former All Black expected to retire at the end of the season, he proved he can still cut it against the Premiership leader’s pack as he largely provided a solid platform at the scrum, giving up a couple of penalties but making up for them with decent carries in the loose.
4. Joe Joyce - 6
Promoted back into the starting side on his 150th competitive appearance for the club the lock showed his impressive engine to race alongside O’Conor after the centre made a break but the pass to the big forward never came.
Took at least one good lineout steal.
5. Chris Vui - 6
The Samoan scored the Bears’ bonus point fourth try but was unable to stop Jasper Wiese powering over for a try early in the second half.
6. Steven Luatua - 6
The skipper was Bristol’s top tackler with 12 completed without missing.
Less of a threat with ball in hand than in recent weeks.
7. Sam Jeffries - 5
The flanker failed to have the impact of his counterpart Tommy Reffell who is an out-and-out scavenger of a seven, winning turnovers and charging down kicks to largely cause chaos in the Bristol ranks whereas Jeffries was unable to put much tangible pressure on England fly-half Ford.
8. Fitz Harding. - 5
The number eight is a gambler on a rugby pitch, he throws offloads others wouldn’t and on Saturday he went for an audacious interception from a looping pass from Ford but he couldn't quite get his hands to it and instead left the defensive line compromised and Tigers exploited the opportunity ruthlessly with Matia Moroni kicking through for Ashton to score after three minutes.
Harding, who leads the Bristol side for dominant tackles this season, was also bounced by his future Bears teammate Ellis Genge who rode the hit and then offloaded to create an overlap for Ashton to score his second try in the 23rd minute.
Replacements:
16. Will Capon - 5
17. Jono Benz-Salomon - 6
18. Jake Armstrong - 5
19. John Hawkins - 5
20. Dan Thomas - 6
21. Andy Uren - 6
22. Tiff Eden - 5 - Charged down by Tommy Reffell which led to Moroni’s try.
23. Alapati Leiua - 6
