Toulon 19 : 32 Bristol bears

If there is a better rugby game this year, few will have seen it.

Bristol Bears and Toulon produced a spectacle worthy of a final in front of 1000 passionate Toulon fans in Aix-en-Provence. The match was played on an artificial 4G pitch at the Stade Maurice David but there was nothing artificial about the electric start.

Pat Lam’s men led in just 15 seconds, trailed at half time and stormed back in a majestic second half to put their hands on a piece of silverware that would have been unimaginable not so long ago.

Long gone were the errors and fatigue of their Gallagher Premiership semi-final 47-24 loss against Wasps just a week ago. Lessons were learned and it was indeed their French opponents, by far the more experienced team at this head level, whose second-half mistakes belied their collective advantage in this sphere.

Lam was jubilant when he spoke to Radio Bristol after the match:

“I’m extremely proud that we were true to ourselves, that’s all I asked of the boys before the game. I said let’s celebrate who we are, the Bristol Bears, and what that means. It is not just a name, it’s our culture. I also said let’s have no fear in the final and be true to ourselves, and we were.

“When we got to 10-0 a few things started to go wrong and Toulon worked their way into the game and we were down 16-10.

“We spoke at half-time and said we needed to get better at the breakdown and that the opportunities were there if we tidied up our stuff and the boys did that, problem solved, and we came home strong.

“Toulon were big men, they wanted to slow us down but we said it was not about the referee or the opposition, it was about us.

“There were spaces available if we got out of the breakdown quickly and it made a massive difference. Fair play to the players.”

The match opened with a collective peal of thunder when Harry Randall ran through to touch down with just 15 seconds gone. The electric Fijian Semi Radradra had been largely closed out at Wasps’ Coventry home last week but his first touch set the tone as he flipped the ball with lightning speed to set up the move.

Costly errors denied the Bears two further tries before half time. Their pack gloriously sent the heaver Toulon forwards reeling but Harry Thacker dropped the ball over the line rather than touched it down. An obvious forward pass saw a second rightly ruled out.

Buoyed by their escape, Toulon rallied and Bryce Heem scored their sole try.

The reliable boot of Louis Carbonel piled in and Toulon had a deserved 16-10 lead at the interval having abandoned a somewhat predictable set of choices early on for something the Bristolians found harder to counter. At this point, they looked favourites to win the cup.

However, the second-half contained 40 minutes of what might be remembered as the greatest half of Bristol rugby ever.

Max Malins is ostensibly a Saracens player but he will be in Bears’ folklore forever for his jink, goosestep and run which left the Toulon rearguard flatfooted to score Bristol’s second try, The boot of the irrepressible Welshman with the Scottish first name and Irish surname, Callum Sheedy, converted that try and five more second-half penalties to secure the win.

As the second half wore on, the number of Toulon errors increased with referee Andrew Brace awarding several penalties against them with Emerick Setiano who came on for Georgian international Beka Gigashvili seemingly incurring Brace’s displeasure on more than one occasion.

Even more remarkably, the Bears won this battle without key players. Injuries ruled out Charles Piutau (Achilles) and Nathan Hughes (ribs), while captain Steven Luatua put family before rugby to witness the birth of his daughter.

And of course no Bristol victory would be complete with their rendition of thw Wurzels’ West Country anthem, “Where be that blackbird?’

Où est le blackbird? ?‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/bsSOEhmRlr

— Bristol Bears (@BristolBears) October 16, 2020

Also see: Yokel Harum – The best of Englishness on show as Wurzels delight on West Country’s day out at Twickenham

The season might get even better for Bristol as they stand by to replace Wasps in case a positive COVID diagnosis forces them out of the Premiership cup final against Exeter next Saturday.

Bristol Bears: Malins; Morahan, Radradra, S Piutau (capt), Leiua; Sheedy, Randall; Y Thomas, Thacker, Sinckler, Attwood, Joyce, Vui, D Thomas, Earl.

Replacements: Kloska, Woolmore, Afoa, Holmes, Heenan, Kessell, O’Conor, Adeolokun.

Toulon: Cordin; Heem, Toeava, Paia’aua, Villiere; Carbonel, Serin; Gros, Etrillard, Gigashvili, Etzebeth, Taofifenua, Ollivon, Lakafia, Parisse.

Replacements: Soury, Fresia, Setiano, Alainu’uese, Rebbadj, Ory, Takulua, Dakuwaqa.

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

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