Bristol Bears were one pass away from spoiling Saracens' party at 'The Showdown 2' as they were narrowly beaten 27-23 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.
In the bright Spring sunshine the Bears scored three superb first-half tries through Antoine Frisch, Piers O'Conor and Tiff Eden, with Eden landing a solitary conversion and a penalty.
But Saracens scored a brace of tries through Max Malins and Elliot Daly with Owen Farrell notching both conversions and a pair of penalties to go in at 20-20 at half time.
Saracens scored the only try of the second half to take the victory with Malins breaking a couple of tackles to touch down against the club he spent a glorious year on loan with. Farrell converted and despite a penalty from the boot of replacement fly-half Callum Sheedy the Bears couldn't find the extra points needed to secure victory with skipper Joe Joyce bombing a final scoring opportunity in the last minute when he gave a forward pass to Jack Bates having done all the hard work of breaking down-field and creating a two on one situation.
South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performance from the Bristol Bears players on another day of nearly but not quite.
15. Rich Lane - 7
The on-loan Bedford Blues full-back again looked completely at home on what was likely the biggest of stages he has ever played on with 40,000 fans in the stands, spinning out of tackles and breaking the Saracens line with his pace to make a team high 72m in just 46m on the pitch.
Don't be surprised if he ends up getting a full-time contract.
14. Alapati Leiua - 7
The Samoan beat a couple of defenders and just did the basics of the game very well without having the blockbuster moments we have seen in recent weeks.
13. Piers O’Conor - 8
The centre is getting back to the form that saw him win Gallagher Premiership player of the month awards last season. He took his try brilliantly and shone against internationals playing opposite him.
More of a threat at 13 than Semi Radradra at the moment in my eyes.
12. Antoine Frisch - 9
The Frenchman looks to be the missing ingredient in the Bristol midfield as he has power, pace and can pass. No wonder a number of clubs are reportedly interested in poaching him.
He had a hand in all three tries scored by the Bears, twice playing provider and scoring one himself
Welsh international centre Nick Tompkins was little more than a doormat trying to stop Frisch scoring a try from 5m out while he was on the spot to play the link role in O’Conor’s try and gave an offload off the deck to Eden for their third having stepped Elliot Daly like he was a statue.
11. Jack Bates - 7
Denied a moment of magic as he dotted down the disallowed fourth try from the Bears after the TMO correctly ruled the final pass to him by Joe Joyce went forward.
Cruel.
Drew the praise of director of rugby Pat Lam post-match.
10. Tiff Eden - 7
There was plenty of admiring praise in the press box for Tiff Eden’s performance at fly-half as he once again impressed with the ball in hand having earned his start in the number 10 jersey after a starring role in Bristol's Premiership Rugby Cup thrashing of Bath.
Former England international fly-half Andy Goode described Eden’s out the back of the hand offload to Frisch to break the line and set up the Bears’ second try as ‘world-class’ and he was on the spot to take a bouncing offload from Frisch to dive over and score himself later in the game.
A rare off day with the boot otherwise he would have got a higher score as his two missed conversions proved costly.
9. Harry Randall - 7
The England international scrum-half provided an extra dimension to the Bristol attack with his running game and he was increasingly dangerous as his quick mind and legs found and exploited some gaps in the Saracens defence as the game went on but never enough to fully escape and on a couple of occasions he got isolated and turned over.
An off day with his box kicking and had a couple of defensive moments that weren’t necessarily errors as he was in a tough spot on both occasions, but didn’t go his way as Randall went for an interception from Farrell’s early pass but missed the ball to allow Saracens to score in the corner through Malins and then got stepped by Daly for the hosts’ second try.
1. Jake Woolmore - 7
The loosehead looked to be in for a tough day against World Cup winner Vincent Koch after the first couple of scrums but he grew into the game and when John Afoa entered the fray at half time the Bears actually got some joy in the scrum in the second half.
2. Harry Thacker - 8
The hooker was outstanding at his bread and butter throwing at the lineout and displayed some brilliant link play passing to play a key role in Bristol’s free-flowing attacking moves including the try for O’Conor where he smartly cleaned up an overthrown lineout by Jamie George on his 250th Saracens appearance.
3. Jake Armstrong - 5
The tighthead prop was under serious pressure in the scrum in the first half from Richard Barrington and Jamie George and Bristol’s scrum improved when he was hooked at halftime for John Afoa.
Some big contributions in the loose though.
4. Dave Attwood - 8
The lock put in another masterclass of the dark arts of defending mauls as he splintered and broke up Saracens' attempted drives from the lineout to completely neuter one of their most dangerous setpiece weapons.
A powerful 80-minute shift again.
5. Joe Joyce - 8
Despite a butchered final pass to Jack Bates for what should have been a game-winning try in the 79th minute, the Bears skipper had a storming 80-minute performance, making huge tackles and powerful runs.
6. Chris Vui - 6
The lock had a couple of poor moments of silly indiscipline late in the game that really should have cost the Bears had Saracens been more clinical.
He is a key man in this Bristol side and if they want to salvage something from the season by going on a deep run in the Champions Cup they can ill afford the Samoan star to do the same, conceding penalties for lifting a leg defending a maul and then blocking, both needlessly.
7. Dan Thomas - 6
The flanker helped provide some quick ball at the ruck but missed four tackles.
8. Fitz Harding - 7
Bristol’s top tackler with 15, never stopped in defence or attack, even after he was smashed after running into a double tackle by Billy Vunipola and Andy Christie.
Replacements
16. Jake Kerr - N/A
17. Yann Thomas
18. John Afoa - 8
19. Sam Jeffries - 7
20. Max Green - N/A
21. Callum Sheedy - 7
22. Semi Radradra - 7
23. Charles Piutau - 7
