‘They dominated us’

Published 13/10/2023 at 22:41 GMT

Dan McKellar had a Gallagher Premiership Rugby debut to forget as his Leicester Tigers side “didn’t fire a shot” in a dreadful first half against Bristol Bears. The visitors went in 22-0 down at the break at Ashton Gate, after being “dominated physically” by Bristol. Tigers improved after the break in an eventual 25-14 defeat, but the performance has left McKellar with food for thought.

Leicester Tigers’ Head Coach Dan McKellar during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Bristol Bears and Leicester Tigers at Ashton Gate on October 13, 2023 in Bristol, England.

Image credit: Getty Images

Leicester Tigers head coach Dan McKellar gave an honest assessment of his side’s opening Gallagher Premiership Rugby defeat to Bristol Bears, saying “they dominated us physically.”

The Tigers got off to a disastrous start on McKellar’s Premiership debut, conceding three tries in the opening 23 minutes to give themselves a mountain to climb.

Leicester improved in the second half, scoring two tries of their own, but never seriously threatened a comeback in a disappointing 25-14 defeat to start to the 2023/24 campaign.

“We weren’t great tonight, that’s the reality. I thought Bristol played really well,” McKellar told TNT Sports.

“They dominated us physically and outkicked us in that first 40 minutes. We’re down 22-0 at half time and it’s hard to come back from that.

“There are a lot of areas where we’ve got to be better, I won’t go into specifics around that now.

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“We’re pleased that we showed some fight in that second half but we’ll learn plenty out of tonight.”

The Tigers showed signs of life after the break when Dan Kelly and Hanro Liebenberg scored converted tries, but it was too little, too late.

“We managed to challenge and threaten a bit more in attack [in the second half],” McKellar added.

“The first 40 minutes we just didn’t fire a shot at all. So it’s nice to score a couple of tries there and breach their defence. But we’ve got plenty of improvement there as well.”

Leicester must now dust themselves down before a big test next weekend, when they host last season’s runners-up Sale Sharks at Welford Road.

Former Brumbies boss McKellar joined the Tigers in the summer after two years working as an assistant coach with the Australian national team.

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