Bristol Bears were beaten 38-31 by Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm on Saturday to end their Premiership Rugby Cup campaign.
The visitors scored a brace of tries through Tom Whiteley with James Williams and Fred Davies also touching down. Williams added 11 points from four successful conversions and a penalty.
But the Cherry and Whites crossed the whitewash six times with winger Jake Morris also recording a brace, along with scores for Jack Clement, Ciaran Knight, Seb Atkinson and Seb Blake, with fly-half captain George Barton landing four conversions for an eight point haul.
South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performances from the Bristol Bears players.....
15. Noah Heward - 6
The former Worcester Warriors full back hit a brilliant line in the build-up to Wiliams’ try to get the Bears on the front foot but had mixed fortunes dealing with a series of kicks through.
14. Sami Hamid - 5
The winger struggled to make an impact on the game and was unfortunate to see a horrible bounce of the ball go clean over his head to hand Gloucester a 50/22.
13. Harry Ascherl - 5
The centre was involved in a couple of long-range breaks but forced a pass that wasn’t on in one of them to allow Gloucester full-back Josh Hathaway to intercept.
12. James Williams - 7
The centre was outplayed by his opposite number Seb Atkinson who was the clear man of the match after a dominant display in both attack in defence, but Williams stood up to be counted for the Bears with a well taken try down the blindside and five out five kicks for 11 points.
11. Harry Rowson - 5
The young winger had few chances to really shine.
10. Tom Whiteley - 7
Starting the game out of position at fly-half, the versatile back scored a brace of tries to finish two sharp breaks from the Bears, the first with a wonderful step, the second with a dive. The former Saracens man has moved down the pecking order at scrum-half since the arrival of Will Porter from Wasps but still has plenty to offer.
9. Oscar Lennon - 6
The scrum half made a great snipe to make the key line break in the build-up to Whiteley’s first try.
1. Aristot Benz-Salomon - 6
The young loosehead held his own at the scrum and put in some big tackles in the loose.
2. Jake Kerr - 6
Bristol’s struggling lineout was relatively sharp but he was shown a yellow card fot cynically killing the ball after a great break by Atkinson who had blasted through a ruck to steal the ball.
3. George Kloska - 6
The tighthead had two stints on the pitch as his replacement Jay Tyack picked up a knee injury. Solid in the scrum against a big home pack.
4. Charlie Rice - 6
The lock was a willing carrier but struggled to make much headway.
5. Joe Owen - 5
The lock got caught out trying to run the ball out from his own 22 and struggled to impose himself against bigger opposition.
6. Aaron Tull - 6
The Bears were at their best when provided fast ruck ball and the flanker played a significant roll in providing that.
7. Dan Thomas - 6
Captaining the side, the Welshman managed to force a few knock ons and was disruptive without the ball with his pressure.
8. Ed Harvey - 5
Unable to standout as a ball carrier but battled hard against Gloucester’s more experienced pack as he played opposite Italy international star Jake Polledri. Replaced after 50 minutes.
Replacements:
16. Fred Davies - 6
17. Tom Sims - 6
18. Jay Tyack - N/A
19. Arthur Thomas - 5
20. Macenzzie Duncan - 4
21. Pete Carter - N/A
22. Jac Lloyd - 6
23. Freddie Owsley - 5
