Following Leicester Tigers’ 57-14 victory over Bayonne at Welford Road in the Investec Champions Cup, here’s how we rated Geoff Parling’s charges.
Leicester Tigers player ratings v Bayonne
15 Freddie Steward: He looked shattered when he left the park early in the second half, and it’s not overly surprising, given it was a busy evening overall for the England full-back. He charged around the park chasing kicks, competing for high balls and bumping off and slipping through tackles. Earned his rest having played a pivotal role in putting his side so far in front. 7
14 Adam Radwan: Ofcourse he scored, and twice. He has been in electric form and caused all kinds of havoc for Victor Hannoun. Can he convince Steve Borthwick to give him a crack at the Six Nations? He is certainly banging on the door. Hopefully, his injury isn’t nearly as bad as it looked. 7
13 Will Wand: A glue-man in a well-functioning backline. Not a blockbuster showing, but no less important than the performances of those around him. 6
12 Orlando Bailey: Worked well in tandem with the entire backline as the Tigers hugely benefited from the double playmaking axis. Defended well, too. 6
11 Gabriel Hamer-Webb: Saw plenty of ball as the Tigers got real width on their attack and threatened when he did, beating defenders with ease and eating up the metres. 7
10 Billy Searle: All the hype this season was the signing of James O’Connor, but today it was the Billy Searle show. He assisted the first two tries with two nigh-on identical long passes and went from provider to scorer, grabbing a second-half hat-trick. He is playing with clarity, confidence, a real swagger and an infectious smile and today, Bayonne fell victim to his brilliance. 9
9 Jack van Poortvliet: Combined wonderfully with his half-back partner, throwing a superb long pass out to him to seal the hat-trick and quickly followed that up with a scintillating run that almost resulted in a score of his own. Assisted an earlier try and played his part in the demolition job of the French club. 8
The forwards
8 Olly Cracknell: Bayone simply could not contain him as he racked up 74 metres from his 15 carries in 54 minutes as he bossed the gain-line on both sides of the ball. 7
7 Tommy Reffell: Grabbed a try and stifled Bayonne’s attack rucks on several occasions. He is best fit for the nitty-gritty, closely fought matches, which this was not, but he still managed to stamp his mark. 6
6 James Thompson: Made his tackles, cleared out rucks and threw his weight into the Bayonne defence with strong and straight carries. Not much more was needed from him. 6
5 Ollie Chessum (c): Capped off his appearance with a brilliant try. A safe pair of hands at the lineout and worked relentlessly throughout his 61 minutes. Cheered off the pitch and fittingly so. 8
4 Cameron Henderson: Also scored a stunner and was just as effective in the set-pieces. The Tigers got great purchase from the performances of their second rowers as they ran rampant at Welford Road. 8
3 Joe Heyes: Solid enough in the scrums and effective around the park. Much of the Tigers’ success was centred around their dominance up front, and Heyes was pivotal in achieving that. 7
2 Charlie Clare: Ditto. Not much to report on the front rowers, other than they did their jobs and did them well. 7
1 Nicky Smith: Busier than his fellow front rowers on defence, but other than that, Smith was very much the same as Clare and Heyes. 7
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Replacements: After Parling emptied the bench, Radwan went off, leaving the Tigers playing with a man short. Emosi Tumania scored a blinder, which was about the only major blight on the Leicester bench’s performance as they saw out the victory. The job was mostly done by the starters, but the bench didn’t implode and give the visitors a sniff. 6