Contepomi leads Bristol to victory in brutal battle

Bristol 25 Leicester

Small war in Bristol, not many dead. Not many left on the pitch, either – 27 come the end of a hellfire-and-brimstone contest in which the stretcher cases among the players were outnumbered only by the basketcases among a season's best crowd at the Memorial Ground.

The audience was split between those who craved more of this transfixing cabaret and those who could not stand another minute.

Meanwhile, the teams were split by Felipe Contepomi's nerveless marksmanship and one startling flash of individ-ualism from Phil Christophers, who cannot be a million miles away from a place on England's wing.

Bristol, a man short after Julian White's dismissal for butting at the first scrum, were hanging on for dear life at 12-10 midway through the second half when Leicester's forwards coughed up a piece of prime attacking possession – an unfortunate habit that developed into a fully-fledged vice during yesterday's exercise in sporting mayhem.

Suddenly, Michael Lipman was away down the left flank, with Christophers cutting an angle on his inside shoulder. The pass was beautifully timed and the wing proceeded to sidestep the cover defence off both feet, confuse Freddie Tuilagi with a subtle change of pace and then swerve away from the big Samoan to complete the score. Look no further for the try of the season.

In many ways, this was the battle of the season, too.

Sam Vesty, the young Leicester outside-half, was carried off with a serious ankle injury; Lewis Moody, the England flanker, limped his way through the opening period before allowing two of the Tigers' backroom staff to help him from field; and Ollie Smith made it to the touchline under his own steam, but he could not move his right arm.

Moody had already been sent to the sin-bin for punching during the fracas that resulted in White's dismissal, Darren Garforth was packed off to the cooler for a profoundly gormless late hit on the exceptional Agustin Pichot, and Daryl Gibson joined him there after killing the ball in the face of a swarm of flying boots. Some of the action bordered on the bloodcurdling.

White will be deemed to have started the fun and games, but Bristol are not so sure. "There were punches and heads going in all over the place," their coach, Peter Thorburn, said. "We're not in the habit of citing people, but I hope the citing officials take a good look at what went on."

For their part, the match officials were in no doubt that the England tight-head prop had used his nut on Graham Rowntree, alongside whom he is frequently to be found in the red rose front row. Chris White, the referee, had lectured the heavy mob at considerable length before that first collision, and was seriously unimpressed by the immediate flouting of his authority.

Worringly for Bristol, White has been here before – and against the same opposition. Last season, he was sent off in the corresponding fixture for fighting with Adam Balding and banned for three weeks.

Assuming there is no equivalent of Henry "Twelve Angry Men" Fonda on the Rugby Football Union's disciplinary panel, he will be lucky to escape with a suspension of twice that length. England, heavily engaged in their planning for the autumn Test series, can plan without him from now on.

Leicester outscored their hosts by two tries to one. Rod Kafer was first up on the half-hour after Alex Brown and Darren Crompton had failed to secure their own line-out ball, while Harry Ellis sold the depleted home ranks a sucker-punch dummy to finish at the posts with 13 minutes to go.

But the European cham-pions are feeling the chill wind of changing fortunes, especially away from Welford Road, and look increasingly fallible under pressure.

This Premiership will not be cut and dried by Christmas. Not by a very long chalk.

Bristol: Try Christophers. Conversion Contepomi. Penalties Contepomi 6. Leicester: Tries Kafer, Ellis. Conversions Stimpson 2. Penalties Stimpson 2.

Bristol: L Best (S Drahm, 30); B Daniel, M Shaw, D Gibson, P Christophers; F Contepomi, A Pichot; D Crompton (A Sheridan, 67), N McCarthy (S Nelson, 78), J White, G Archer (capt), A Brown, B Sturnham, M Lipman (C Short, 67), M Salter (E Bergamaschi, 2).

Leicester: T Stimpson; H Ellis, O Smith (J Naufahu, 63), R Kafer, F Tuilagi; S Vesty (G Gelderbloom, 40), T Tierney (S Booth, 65); G Rowntree, D West (G Chuter, 66), D Garforth, M Johnson (capt), B Kay, M Corry, L Moody (J Kronfeld, 46), W Johnson.

Referee: C White (Cheltenham).