Rugby / Bristol Bears
Bristol score seven tries in breathless victory against league leaders
Before a very wet Friday night in BS3, it had been two months since Ashton Gate had last hosted Premiership rugby.
Bristol Bears could not have had a tougher resumption to their campaign but they scored an astonishing seven tries against league leaders Northampton, winning 52-21.
There may not have been the usual pyrotechnic welcome for the players onto the pitch as this was a green-themed fixture but Pat Lam’s men brought the heat, with AJ MacGinty not missing a single conversion.
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Joe Batley followed up his own charge-down to score the first try of the night under the squally skies and Harry Randall won a footrace to the line for Bristol’s second.
Beneath their own posts, Bristol’s defence was holding firm, with Batley celebrating after after one particularly successful defensive set almost as jubilantly as when he had scored his try.
Ellis Genge entered the fray five minutes into the second half and five minutes after that provided the pass for his front row colleague Kyle Sinckler to crash over the whitewash.
James Dun powered over for Bristol’s bonus point and then a more hirsute than usual Max Malins scythed through the Northampton defence to get on the scoresheet on his return from injury.
Bristol’s sixth was scored by Fred Davies profiting from a powerful rolling maul and with just a minute to go, Gabriel Ibitoye scored Bristol’s seventh with a swan dive for the cameras.
And that was that in a breathless encounter that turned league form on its head.
Main photo: Bristol Bears
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