Bristol Bears were beaten 23-7 by London Irish at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday in Round 15 of the 2022/23 Gallagher Premiership.
The Exiles scored tries through Benhard van Rensburg and Ben White, with 13 points from the boot of fly-half Rory Jennings.
Bristol were the first to cross the try line through Harry Thacker, converted by AJ MacGinty, but that was a rare moment of cutting edge from a blunt attacking display.
South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performances from the Bristol Bears players:
READ MORE: London Irish 23-7 Bristol Bears LIVE: Reaction from seventh Premiership defeat
15. Noah Heward - 5
Making his first Premiership start for the Bears since joining the club from Worcester Warriors, Heward sadly became the latest Bristol full-back to pick up a knock with Charles Piutau and Rich Lane sidelined, as he took a blow to head to be replaced in the 48th minute forcing a reshuffle in the backline.
14. Toby Fricker - 6
On his return from injury, the big winger showed his trademark doggedness and put in some hugely physical tackles but barely got a sight of a scoring opportunity.
13. Semi Radradra - 5
The Fijian was simply trying too hard to make something happen on a day when nothing was quite clicking for the Bears and the result was risky offloads missing their targets to further compound problems and tackles off the ball. He still made some impressive carries but also got spectacularly bumped off when trying to make a tackle on big Chandler Cunningham-South.
12. Ioan Lloyd - 4
The Welshman failed to sparkle on the heavy turf at Brentford and the jury is still out on whether inside centre is his best position with opposite number Benhard van Rensburg walking off with the player of the match award.
11. Gabriel Ibitoye - 6
Bristol’s tactics appeared to be to get the ball into the hands of Ibitoye as quickly as possible and hope he could pull off some magic, the problem was he had little to no space to work with as the home defence suffocated the Bears and went hunting for turnovers whenever someone got isolated. Limped off the pitch with an apparent ankle injury.
10. AJ MacGinty - 4
With the Exiles losing former Irish international fly-half Paddy to a tight calf late in the day, going into the game there was a sense the visitors would have the edge at stand-off but as it turned out replacement Rory Jennings had the better day.
MacGinty struggled to get the backline firing and made a few costly mistakes including kicking the ball dead when kicking to the corner from a penalty as Bristol looked to capitalise on some early momentum. While he landed the easy conversion, a number of his up and under kicks proved to be too long to allow Irish to safely gather without competition or call the mark in their own 22.
As the game wore on his performance summed up the Premiership basement boy’s growing desperation as he made a nice half break on the outside only to try and force an offload in the wet that was knocked on by Dan Thomas.
The USA international can feel hard done by for the penalty he conceded for ‘not releasing’ van Rensburg after the South African released the ball and got to his feet again in a flash. No player in the league would have let go of the big centre’s legs in that situation.
9. Andy Uren - 5
The scrum-half was unfortunate to see a couple of seemingly good kicks bounce long and role dead while there was little space for him to exploit in attack.
1. Ellis Genge - 7
The returning England international was once again dangerous with ball in hand and it was his initial run that started the drive which led to the Bears’ only try of the game.
A very solid day in the scrum to provide Bristol with dominance in at least one set-piece area.
2. Harry Thacker - 7
The hooker was sharp to score the Bears’ only try of the game as he spotted an unguarded edge to a ruck and sniped through. But the really impressive stat was the 25 tackles the frontrower made in a huge defensive effort from his side.
3. Kyle Sinckler - 7
The England tighthead returned from a groin injury and was rock solid in the scrum to win repeated penalties. He drew defenders in with his running game as the prop looked intent on being more direct with his carries rather than always being the pivot passing man which is encouraging to see.
4. Joe Batley - 6
The lock’s work rate has gone through the roof since he return to the club from Worcester and Sunday was no different as he made 17 tackles without missing, according to the stats.
5. Chris Vui - 5
The game rather passed the lock by as he struggled to impose himself in either defence or attack in the cold and wet conditions which is disappointing for a player of his calibre.
6. Steven Luatua - 6
The skipper repeatedly made the right choice as whether to run or pass when he had the ball, if only the same could be said for all his team mates. However, Irish won the breakdown battle which was a large reason for Bristol conceding so many penalties.
7. Jake Heenan - 5
The New Zealander made 15 tackles in just 50 minutes on the park as he was repeatedly getting patched up and checked out by the medical team. Gave away a couple of costly penalties.
8. Magnus Bradbury - 6
The Scotland international was defiant in his play as he was one of the few Bristol player who repeatedly got on the front foot when attacking.
Replacements
16. Jake Kerr - 5
17. Yann Thomas - 6
18. Max Lahiff - 6
19. Joe Joyce - 6
20. Dan Thomas - 5
21. Tom Whiteley - 5
22. Callum Sheedy - 5
23. Jack Bates - 5
