Bristol Bears cannot stop scoring, overcoming an early deficit to secure a bonus-point win over champions Northampton Saints to move top of the table with player-of-the-match Joe Batley fittingly finishing off the best try of the night.
“When we get it right it’s b—– fun, but when we get it wrong I’m under the posts fuming,” admitted Bears veteran Steven Luatua, who spent the bulk of the game out on the wing. Luatua, usually a flanker, claimed his adopted position was because he was tired but he never looked it, his powerful runs proving to be highly effective.
Bristol by all accounts were given a stern word at half-time to cut down on turnovers and push their game-plan on Northampton, who were missing several key backs away with England. While the combination of Tom Pearson and Henry Pollock stood out in Northampton’s pack as they raced into a 15-0 lead, they ultimately could not live with Bristol’s width and offloads.
“They managed to keep playing their game, it was full energy, 100 miles an hour. They created so many opportunities and we defended with a huge heart and amount of pride, but couldn’t keep them out,” conceded Phil Dowson, Northampton’s director of rugby.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was that it took 17 minutes for these two adventurous sides to find a first try. It went the way of Northampton, with the constantly impressive Pearson finding space outside Bristol’s defence and sending George Hendy over.
Pearson had more in his locker, with poor Kieran Marmion crumpling underneath the flanker’s power carry before he set up Josh Kemeny. There is currently no room in England’s squad for Pearson but this effort certainly sent a message. Those tries plus a penalty from young fly-half George Makepeace-Cubitt on debut gave Northampton the early edge.
Bristol accepted the challenge, with Gabriel Ibitoye strolling over for his fifth of the season before a sizzler from Kalaveti Ravouvou, cutting back on the angle onto AJ MacGinty’s cute offload to cut the deficit. Regathering their composure, Northampton finished the stronger side before the break with a Makepeace-Cubitt penalty leading to an 18-14 lead at half-time.
Northampton defended gamely but eventually cracked, Luatua’s marauding runs down the wing combined with their offloads and quick ruck speed leading to Ravouvou spinning over for his second, with the Fiji international an increasing threat as the game wore on.
No side has scored more tries in the final quarter this season than Bristol and they saved their best for last, Batley finishing off a sensational team move started by Ibitoye’s offload, securing a try bonus point for their seventh game in a row and leaving Northampton adrift.
There will be few better consolation tries this season however than James Ramm’s, created by a brilliant break and long-range pass from Scotland’s Rory Hutchinson. But the missed conversion crucially meant Northampton fell short of a losing bonus point, while Bristol extended their lead as the league’s top try scorers by hitting 30 for the season to go top of the table.
Scoring sequence: 0-3 Makepeace-Cubitt pen, 0-8 Hendy try, 0-10 Makepeace-Cubitt con, 0-15 Kemeny try, 5-15 Ibitoye try, 7-15 MacGinty con, 12-15 Ravouvou try, 14-15 MacGinty con, 14-18 Makepeace-Cubitt pen, 19-18 Ravouvou try 21-18 MacGinty con, 24-18 MacGinty pen, 29-18 Batley try, 31-18 MacGinty con, 31-23 Ramm try
Bristol Bears: R Lane; J Bates, K Ravouvou (S Worsley 77), B Janse van Rensburg (B Elizalde 18), G Ibitoye; A MacGinty, K Marmion (S Wolstenholme 67); J Woolmore (Y Thomas 49), G Oghre (H Thacker 50), M Lahiff (G Kloska 50), J Dun, J Batley, S Luatua, B Grondona (J Heenan 76), F Harding. Not used: J Owen
Northampton Saints: G Hendy; J Ramm, T Litchfield (C Savala 71), R Hutchinson, T Seabrook (J Garside 70); G Makepeace-Cubitt, T James (A McParland 71); T West (E Iyogun 57), C Langdon (C Wright 63), E Millar-Mills (L Green 57), T Mayanavanua, A Coles (G Thornbury 68), J Kemeny, T Pearson, H Pollock (A Scott-Young 71)
Referee: C Maxwell-Keys
Attendance: 14,949
