Bristol Bears beat Perpignan 19-5 away to get their 2022/23 European Challenge Cup campaign off to a strong start.
Tries from Charles Piutau, Fitz Harding and European debutant Joe Jenkins, with two conversions from AJ MacGinty, delivered the victory at the Stade Aimé Giral.
The French Top 14 side crossed the line once through lock Eru Shahn who powered over from a lineout.
South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performances from the Bears players out in France.
READ MORE: Perpignan 5-19 Bristol Bears LIVE: Reaction and full highlights from away win in France
15. Charles Piutau - 8
The full back showed all his power and experience to score the opening try of the game after less than two minutes as he hit a gap and then blasted through a couple of tacklers to touch the ball down. The former All Black wasn’t perfect under the high balls coming his way but also made some key defensive plays including a jackal turnover.
Limped off towards the end to cause slight concern.
14. Luke Morahan - 7
The news he will leave the club for Bayonne at the end of the month has broken fans’ hearts. He had a quiet game on Friday night but was classy with the few touches he had, keeping attacks alive with well-weighted kicks.
13. Semi Radradra - 8
The Fijian was was wrecking ball both in and out of possession. He repeatedly smashed his way over the gainline, making key carries in the build-up to the first two tries and atomised a couple of Perpignan players with tackles in the second half. When the homeside did put a clean shot on him, Radradra still more often than not managed to get an offload away. A big step up from last week’s display.
12. Joe Jenkins - 8
The teenage centre took his first European try on his debut in the Challenge Cup wonderfully, playing a role in its creation with a nice draw and pass and then taking a bouncing ball that rebounded off a leg at full tilt, beating Ali Crossdale’s tackle on his thick legs and goose-stepping beyond the attempted cover tackle of the Perpignan captain.
His key moment of learning will come when he misjudged the line speed of the home defence and got charged down trying to kick in Bristol’s 22 to hand the French side a chance to pile on the pressure.
11. Gabriel Ibitoye - 7
A frustratingly quiet night for the winger who has few chances to shine but showed his rounded game with a stunning 50/22 to put the Bears in an attacking position for the opening try of the game.
10. AJ MacGinty - 8
The fly-half was truly outstanding in defence, making a joint team-high 14 during his time on the pitch. MacGinty landed two out of three conversions off the tee, kicked well to the corners to eek out the metres and gave the scoring pass for Fitz Hardings’ try down the blindside while also sparking the counter-attack that led to Jenkins score.
However my favourite moment was an exquisite step in the second half that utterly bamboozled the home defence.
9. Will Porter - 8
The scrum half made some excellent decisions during the game, picking the perfect moment to switch from attacking the openside to the blindside or Harding’s try having also picked and executed a great two-man miss-pass to put Piutau over the line.
1. Yann Thomas - 7
The loosehead prop was caught out for Perpignan’s try as Eru Shahn span away from him to run through an area of the pitch that looked defensively covered.
2. Harry Thacker - 8
The hooker was full of running and is a real threat coming around the corner into midfield on move off the top at the lineout, helping to create the first two tries.
His lung-busting chase of a kick through by Ibitoye in the second half, beating all his team mates to make a tackled that forced a turnover, summed up his game.
Disappointingly the lineout deteriorated as the game progressed.
3. Max Lahiff - 7
The birthday boy was just about on top in the scrum despite giving away one penalty for illegally driving not straight.
4. Joe Batley - 6
The lock was credited with no metres made carrying but he played a bit role repelling the big French pack which in the latter stages included the latest Tuilagi off the line, all 24-stone of Posolo Tuilagi. Came up with one turnover and helped stop countless maul drives.
5. Chris Vui - 6
It was a nuts and bolts day for the Samoan who was key Bristol’s maul defence which ultimately helped win the game.
6. Steven Luatua - 7
The skipper showed a few nice touches with ability to get his arms free for offloads proving effective although if his pass to Thacker midway in the first half about a metre out had been better then the Bears would be going home with a bonus point, as it was the slippery ball died on the hooker who ended up knocking on,
7. Jake Heenan - 7
Another to finish with a joint high 14 tackles, made more impressive by the fact he left the pitch earliest.
8. Fitz Harding - 8
The number eight had his best game of the season as he scored a try and was a key component in the Bears second as he exploded down the right wing before trying to kick through which ended up bouncing into the arms of Jenkins to score.
Replacements:
16. Jake Kerr - 6
17. Jake Woolmore - 6
18. Jay Tyack - 6
19. Elliott Stooke - 6
20. Daniel Thomas - 6
21. Tom Whiteley - 5
22. Callum Sheedy - 6
23. Ioan Lloyd - 6
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