By Duncan Wood
May 6 2002

He did it again on Sunday, picking off a Glenn Gelderbloom pass and running it back all the way. Once or twice and you'd dismiss it as a fluke but he's done it so many times this season that he's got it down to a fine art.

The first instance of him intercepting a pass and running in a try that I can recall was in last season's cup win over Wasps. It was a really tight game that day and his score turned out to be crucial to the result.

This season, however, he seems to have turned it into an art form. I can definitely remember Wasps being on the receiving end again. This time it was in the league encounter at the Memorial Stadium and he actually pulled off the feat twice in that game.

In the last two home games, Gloucester and Leicester, he has stepped in to pick off a pass and run it all the way back for a try. I'm pretty sure he ran one back against Leicester at Welford Road back in December and I'm sure that there have been others that I have forgotten about!

You could forgive opposing players for being a bit paranoid about letting the ball go when he's around! It's not even as if he appears to gamble in going for the interception. You sometimes see players dashing out of the defensive line, missing the ball and gifting a try to the opposition in their over eagerness. Felipe just seems to read the game so well - he steps in at the last moment and he's away.

He's actually a very solid defender as well. He's the type of fly half who tackles more than his weight so the fact that he knows when to tackle and when to intercept is an added bonus.

Has Bristol ever had a player who can turn defence into attack in the same way?

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