Bristol Bears beat Leicester Tigers 42-24 in Round One of the 2025/26 Gallagher PREM
Bristol Bears’ Tom Jordan in action during the Gallagher PREM match (Photo by Bob Bradford – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Bristol Bears beat Leicester Tigers 42-24 in their opening game of the 2025/26 Gallagher PREM to go second in the early table but were left counting the injury costs after seeing three of their superstars limp off.
The Bears secured a bonus-point victory thanks to tries from Fitz Harding, Gabriel Ibitoye, Gabriel Oghre, Josh Carrington and Louis Rees-Zammit, with Tom Jordan adding 15 points with the boot on his PREM debut after making the move from Glasgow Warriors in the summer.
But injuries to fly-half AJ MacGinty, who kicked on penalty before making way with an Achilles injury, scrum-half Harry Randall and winger Gabriel Ibitoye left a sour taste in victory.
Adam Radwan scored a brace of tries for Leicester with Jack van Poortliet and Orlando Bailey also touching down to earn a bonus point from the loss in new head coach Geoff Parling’s first league game in charge having replaced Michael Cheika over the summer.
Bristol took the lead after just five minutes through the boot of MacGinty after the home side’s pack won a penalty against the head at a scrum to create the chance to kick for the sticks.
But it was Leicester’s backline who flashed into life first, with Orlando Bailey zipping a flat pass out to Will Wand who drew a defender and linked with Ollie Hassell-Collins, who in turn found an inside pass back to the supporting van Poortvliet to run in and finish a 70m attack with a try. Architect Bailey converted.
Just 13 minutes in, Bristol were struck with a cruel injury blow as MacGinty fell to the ground off the ball and had to be carried off the pitch. That sparked a reshuffle in the backline with Jordan moving to fly-half and summer signing Carrington, fresh out of the BUCs university league, coming on at full-back.
There was little sympathy from Leicester who scored their second try of the game from the restarting scrum, with van Poortvliet breaking down the blindside to release Radwan, who stepped inside Ibitoye and then survived the tackle of Jordan to ground the ball.
Bristol responded quickly with forward might, powering over the line on their fifth drive from pods of forwards for skipper Harding to touch down on his 100th appearance for the club.
A missed 47 metre penalty kick effort from Bailey, which struck the upright and bounced back, turned into a Tigers try moments later as Bristol knocked on trying to play their way out from deep. From the resulting scrum, Radwan worked his magic again, this time with Bailey putting a pass into the winger’s path to allow him to take the ball at top speed, step off his left foot and dive for the corner beyond Ibitoye.
Shortly after the half-hour mark, Bristol suffered a second significant injury blow as scrum-half Harry Randall limped off clutching the back of his leg, having apparently twinged his hamstring after getting tripped at the back of a ruck.
But despite having lost two of their talismen, the Bears then managed to level the scores with a well-worked move down the blindside, flooding around the corner and putting the ball through the hands of George Kloska and Benhard Janse van Rensburg to create an overlap and put Ibitoye over untouched. Jordan’s wide conversion made it 17-17 at half time.
The Bears opened the scoring after the break off the boot of Jordan following another scrum penalty, this time with Kloska getting the edge of Nicky Smith. A catch and drive maul try then delivered Oghre down the narrowest of blindsides to open up a 10-point gap.
But Tigers wouldn’t go away and a missed tackle from Joe Jenkins allowed Bailey to bounce off him and then step his way over the line, converting his own effort.
In a thoroughly entertaining affair, Bristol hit back through PREM debutant Carrington who ran onto a perfectly weighted pass from Jordan and then used his pace to get outside Ollie Hassell-Collins and score.
In the closing stages, player of the match Jordan held Tigers up over the line and then added a penalty before Rees-Zammit finally got an opportunity to display his lightening pace with a 65m sprint to the line after a sublime counter ruck and turn over from Bill Mata on his return from international duty with Fiji.
Bristol turn their attention to Saracens away at the StoneX Stadium next.
Bristol Bears : 15. Tom Jordan, 14. Louis Rees-Zammit, 13. Joe Jenkins, 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall, 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Gabriel Oghre, 3. George Kloska, 4. James Dun, 5. Joe Batley, 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Fitz Harding (c), 8. Benjamin Grondona
Replacements: 16. Harry Thacker, 17. Sam Grahamslaw, 18. Lovejoy Chawatama, 19. Joe Owen, 20. Viliame Mata, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. Kalaveti Ravouvou, 23. Josh Carrington
Leicester Tigers: 15. Freddie Steward, 14. Adam Radwan, 13. Will Wand, 12. Joseph Woodward, 11. Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10. Orlando Bailey, 9. Jack van Poortvliet, 1. Nicky Smith, 2. Jamie Blamire, 3. Joe Heyes, 4. Cameron Henderson, 5. James Thompson, 6. Hanro Liebenberg (c), 7. Emeka Ilione, 8. Olly Cracknell
Replacements: 16. Charlie Clare, 17. Tarek Haffar, 18. Will Hurd, 19. Joshua Manz, 20. Joaquin Moro, 21. Tom Whiteley, 22. Billy Searle, 23. Solomone Kata
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
Assistant Referees: George Selwood and Calum Howard
TMO: David Rose
Attendance; 20,796