By Duncan Wood
May 5 2002

The Argentine half backs had a day to remember. Pichot revelled on the platform laid by his forwards and Contepomi helped himself to 23 points. The Tigers were understrength and swept away by a confident Shoguns side.

It all has to be taken with a slight pinch of salt as Leicester fielded what they are bound to dub a "second team". However, any Leicester team takes some beating and you can only beat what is put in front of you.

Bristol began with purpose from the off. They had a slight breeze at their backs and the conditions were ideal for handling.

Only 4 minutes were on the clock when Bristol moved the ball left and a long, flat pass found Andrew Higgins. The centre used a powerful handoff to give himself half a yard and then showed superb acceleration to leave the cover standing. Contepomi's conversion made it 7-0.

Bristol dominated territory and possession as the Tigers showed an understandable lack of cohesion. However, chances went begging and you started to get the nagging feeling that Bristol needed more points considering the big guns sat on the Leicester bench.

Contepomi added two more penalties to extend the lead to 13-0 before Jason Little showed his class. Bristol recycled possession in the Leicester 22 and moved the ball right. Little had men outside but dummied his way through the Tigers defence. Not a hand was laid upon him and he was under the posts. 20-0.

Two minutes later and Bristol were in seventh heaven. Leicester were actually on the attack on halfway and moving the ball through the backs. I've lost count how many times he's done this but Felipe stepped in to intercept and angled his run away from the covering defenders to go over. 27-0 after a fine conversion from wideout on the left.

Credit to Leicester they bounced straight back. Phil Christophers gathered the high kickoff but was turned over. Leicester maintained the pressure with a couple of tap penalties before Geordan Murphy stretched every sinew to dot the ball over the line near the posts despite 2 tacklers. Andy Goode amazed everyone by hitting the post with his conversion attempt.

Goode reduced the lead further with a penalty before Adam Balding and Julian White came to blows during a Bristol rolling maul. I honestly don't know who started it but there was a flurry of punches right in front of referee Lander. The red card was shown. Goode kicked the penalty with the last kick of the first half. 27-11.

Leicester resisted the temptation to make changes at half time and Bristol came out fired up. They established field position and sucked in the Leicester cover. Phil Christophers was put one on one with Geordan Murphy and the sidestep was put to good use as he powered over in the left hand corner to clinch the bonus point. For once, Felipe missed.

Bristol continued to turn the screw but several try scoring chances slipped away as the final pass went astray. On 57 minutes, Felipe Contepomi broke the gainline and was one on one with the fullback. He was tackled 5 yards out but lost the ball in contact. Leicester ran it back and Josh Kronfeld went over in the corner despite a heroic chase back by Andrew Higgins. One end of the pitch to the other - great stuff! 35-16.

The edge then went off the game. Substitutes came and went and referee Lander was forced to disrupt the flow by giving numerous penalties. Leicester hit back with a late, unconverted Gelderbloom try but Contepomi finished off the scoring with a late penalty.

A curious game. Bristol showed a real willingness to spread the ball and, bearing in mind the number of injuries, played a pretty good game. The pack laid a platform and Pichot and Contepomi ran the show. Higgins and Christophers enhanced their growing reputations.

However, I think the sponsors got the man of the match wrong. Pich had a fine game but I'd have gone for Lee Best who wanted the ball constantly and got through some sensational work.

The defence also looked up for it and there were some shuddering hits and the White/ Balding and Archer/ Short incidents are testimony to the level of commitment.

Johnson and co stayed on the bench but any win over Leicester is to be cherished