Much is expected of Leinster’s new All Black recruit Jordie Barrett but it was the Irish province’s young home‑reared fly-half Sam Prendergast who stole the show in the chilly West Country on Sunday night. Prendergast has already made his mark at Test level this autumn and did so again at Bristol’s expense as the visitors pulled away to a significant bonus‑point victory in Pool 2.
While Barrett also made a positive early impression on his Leinster debut, scoring one try and creating another, it was the 21-year-old Prendergast who inflicted the most scoreboard damage with two sharp tries and an overall bag of 20 points. It also added up to further disappointment for English sides on the opening weekend with six defeats for Premiership teams and just two wins.
There was certainly a clear winner on the night in the battle between Bristol’s attacking brilliance and Leinster’s defensive solidity. The visitors, down briefly to 13 men in the first half, won the second half 28-5 and their star‑studded bench made a gamechanging difference, with the giant Springbok RG Snyman breaking clear to set up Prendergast for his second try.
The young fly-half, making his first start in this tournament, has more than a hint of Johnny Sexton about him and both his tries were nicely taken. The first came from a Sexton‑style loop and dagger‑like incision following Barrett’s first‑receiver pass, while the second involved a good turn of pace from a long way out to secure the bonus point. Barrett, cutting in on a sharp angle for his score, also looked instantly at home in his new northern hemisphere habitat. “They’re a quality side and they were good on the day,” said Pat Lam, Bristol’s director of rugby.
Cold and blustery with some rain in the air, however, it was a less than ideal evening for Bristol’s deft offloading game. It undermined their cause, too, when their tactical linchpin AJ MacGinty was helped off with injured ribs after just four minutes following a heavy midfield tackle by Garry Ringrose and the centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg shifted permanently inside to 10.
It was Leinster, though, who had to weather most of the early pressure, tested by the Bears’ fast-paced handling and collective appetite for work. Their penalty count was also mounting up and was about to cost them dear. First Rónan Kelleher was given a yellow card for dragging down a driving maul close to his own line and two minutes later Max Deegan followed him to the bin for a little trip on Harry Thacker as the Bristol hooker threatened to make a try-creating break.
The Bears were further encouraged when Max Lahiff was driven over from short range and Van Rensburg coolly slotted the conversion. Any hopes of creating havoc against 13-man opposition, however, were swiftly dashed when Leinster stole the restart and the ball then bobbled away from the home full-back Rich Lane to allow Jordan Larmour to nip in and steal a try back immediately.
It made it 7-7 at half-time but not before Ellis Genge had crunched Prendergast hard and fractionally late enough to welcome the young fly-half to the tougher side of Bristolian culture. If the idea was to throw the youngster off his game, however, it was to prove a conspicuous failure.
Bordeaux-Bègles mounted a second-half comeback to beat Leicester 42-28 in their opening Champions Cup clash at Stade Chaban-Delmas. The Tigers built a seven-point lead by half-time, but the hosts recovered with four tries as the France international Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored twice. Despite resting several players, Leicester made a positive start with two tries in the opening 15 minutes through the lock Harry Wells and Josh Bassett’s close-range touchdown. Bordeaux had replied with a sixth-minute try from the forward Pete Samu before Guido Petti went over from a counterattack to level things up before the half-hour mark. The Frenchman Côme Joussain then crafted a try on his Tigers debut to put the visitors 21-14 ahead at the break. Bordeaux, though, regrouped during the interval and produced a lightning start to the second half as Bielle-Biarrey scored from his own kick before Samu went over for his second to put Bordeaux in front. Bielle-Biarrey touched down again between the posts before Nicolas Depoortère ran in a sixth try, with Izaia Perese bundling over late on to at least secure Leicester a bonus point. Holders Toulouse made it a French double in Pool One as Antoine Dupont’s side swept past Ulster 61-21 at Stade Ernest-Wallon. PA Media
Leinster were also unfazed by a curious start to the second half when the referee, Pierre Brousset, lost patience with the scrummaging of both sides and sent both Lahiff and the newly arrived Andrew Porter to the bin. It mattered not as the Dublin equivalent of the “bomb squad”, also including Snyman and Ireland’s captain Caelan Doris, took a firm grip on proceedings and transformed the complexion of the game.
In addition to Prendergast and Barrett, who almost signed for Bristol two years ago, there was a place on the scoresheet for Josh van der Flier with a try in response from Gabriel Ibitoye a case of far too little too late. Leinster, at home against Clermont Auvergne next weekend, are now exactly where they want to be in pursuit of a title that has narrowly eluded them for the past three seasons.
Bristol were at least able to unveil their new women’s signing Ilona Maher, who was paraded to the crowd at the interval and will hopefully make her English club debut in more benign conditions in the new year. Winter rugby has its attractions but chilly late Sunday kick-offs in December definitely separate true believers from casual floating voters.
