Prem Rugby: Finn Russell prevails, Marcus Smith toils and Leicester tear it up

Bonus points caught some flak at the end of the Six Nations.

Had champions France drawn their high-scoring game against England in the final round, rather than winning it by one point, they would have finished top of the standings despite having won one fewer match than second-placed Ireland.

However, the concept came good at the end of Leicester’s win over Bristol on Sunday.

With the clock in the red, Leicester 28-19 up and each team having scored three tries, the Bears were attacking hard deep inside the host’s half.

Bristol couldn’t win the game, but a try would deliver them two bonus points and keep them within one of Leicester in the table and the race for a top-four finish.

When replacement Tigers’ hooker Finn Theobald-Thomas turned over the ball, it seemed Leicester would take the money and kick to touch.

Their coach Geoff Parling certainly thought so.

“Could you not hear me at the end? I wanted us to kick it off,” he said later.

Instead, despite the rest of the backline standing flat and fatigued and the left-hand touchline invitingly close, Izaia Perese flung a long pass the other way.

Freddie Steward caught it, kicked a pinpoint bomb across to Billy Searle, who fed inside to Gabriel Hamer-Webb to streak in to secure Leicester’s own four-try bonus.

It was a sensational finish.