Bristol Bears proved their talk of being top four contenders is very real as they recorded their biggest ever win in the Premiership with nine try demolition job at Ashton Gate to trash Northampton Saints in a 62-8.
The home side started the carnage with a try-bonus point in the first-half as Harry Thacker and Ioan Lloyd crossed, either side of an electric brace from skipper Harry Randall that included one try of the season contender after some mesmeric footwork from Charles Piutau, who had a superb game from full-back to set the scrum-half clear and leave his side 27-3 up at the break.
The carnage continued from all areas in the second 40 as Lloyd bagged his second try within minutes of the restart, before Chris Vui, George Kloska, Fitz Harding and Jake Heenan completed the rout with tries across the half.
An underpowered Saints side, missing five men to England, managed just one dubious try, with George Hendy touching down in the second half despite an apparent forward pass in the build-up. But the comeback kings of the Premiership this season were given no sniff of turning the tide.
Scrum-half Randall shone throughout, alongside man of the match Piutau who looked back to his best with a devastating display from full-back, but credit must go to the dynamic back-row duo of Harding and Magnus Bradbury who were both outstanding from the outset and played their part in the victory.
On a bitterly cold, but crucially dry night at Ashton Gate, it was the visitors who warmed things up early on with a blistering counter attack five minutes in, that saw Rory Hutchinson produce a fantastic out the back door offload after a searing break from Fin Smith, to out his side inside the hosts 22, before retaining the ball and earning themselves a penalty that fly-half Smith duly converted to put his side 3-0 to the good.
It wasn’t long before the home side drew level however, when AJ MacGinty slotted a 30-metre penalty after his side began to stretch the visitors through wingers Gabriel Ibitoye and Siva Naulago.
The Bears had their dynamic back-row to thank, as the impressive Harding registered 11 tackles before the 20 minute-mark, before Scotsman Bradbury pounced on a dominant tackle from Naulago in the wide channel to secure his side a crucial turnover and stem the flow of a threatening Saints attack.
After a string of impressive performances, it was scrum-half Randall who crossed for the game’s first try on 21 minutes, when he capitalised on some loose Northampton defence after Harding’s barnstorming break in midfield, to snipe off the base, opening the door with a giant dummy, and scampered home under the posts to give his side a 10-3 lead against the run of play.
This kicked Ashton Gate into life as moments later the Bears appeared to be over again, this time straight from the re-start as Bradbury secured the high ball and proceeded to burst upfield, before finding the supporting Harry Thacker, who made it just short of the line before offloading out the back-door to the flying Naulago to dot down in the corner for a try of the season contender. The thrill was short-lived however, as the try was chalked off for a forward pass in the act of scoring, keeping the score at 10-3 for the time being.
Thacker wasn’t kept off the scoresheet for long however, as he benefitted from some powerful work from his forward pack that allowed the hooker to bundle over from short range to score his 13th try in all competitions this season and see his side stretch their lead to 14 points.
That lead was soon extended when Piutau produced a sublime piece of individual skill, after receiving a pass from Randall in midfield the Tongan international, spun out of the first two attempted tackles, before producing a stunning step to leave the congested Saints defence in his wake and sprinted clear courtesy of an outrageous goose-step and then weighting a grubber kick in behind perfectly for the onrushing Randall to collect and score a truly spectacular try in the corner in front of a raucous home crowd and put the hosts in the driving seat with the score at 22-3.
Bristol’s set-piece dominance and all-court offloading game was asking questions of the visitors that they could not answer, and the bonus point was wrapped-up before half-time when a driving maul set the platform for the ball to be moved wide through the backs before a scintillating basketball-like offload from Semi Radradra set replacement Ioan Lloyd over in the corner to send the Bears into the break 27-3 up after a near perfect half of rugby.
It was more of the same immediately in the second-half as the home side showed signs of the form that got them to the play-offs back in 2021 with a stunning sequence that saw seven offloads as the Bears went from inside their own half once again as Chris Vui found Piutau on the touchline before he nonchalantly made a no-look offload to Lloyd who cantered over to score the home side’s fifth try of the match and make it 34-7 after MacGinty’s pinpoint conversion.
The onslaught continued soon after as Vui picked and went through the middle of an unmarked ruck 30 metres out to gallop through unopposed as the home side entered the forties and the Saints began to struggle in the face of the relentless attacking barrage from the quite outstanding Bristolian outfit.
Northampton gave their travelling fans something to cheer about on 56 minutes when youngster George Hendy crossed after collecting a neat offload from replacement Aaron Hinkley, but the muted celebrations were short-lived as substitute George Kloska hit back for the hosts after yet more phases were strung together inside the visitors 22 allowing the prop to power over.
There may not have been a more deserving try-scorer on the night than the man who registered the Bears’ eighth try of the evening when Fitz Harding latched onto an offload from Sam Bedlow to make the scoreline an eye-watering 55-8, and more impressively notch up Bristol’s 52nd point from only their 10th visit to the Saints 22, highlighting the astonishing efficiency of Pat Lam’s side on the night.
The jubilant fans didn’t have to wait long for the record-breaking ninth try as a free-kick five metres out was fed to the bulldozing Jake Heenan who powered over to take the points tally above the sixty-point mark.
When the full-time whistle sounded, it was the electric Piutau who was awarded the official man of the match award for his game-changing 50-minute cameo, but in truth any one of Bristol’s spine of the team could have won the accolade with Thacker, Vui, Batley, Harding, Bradbury, Randall, Radradra and Naulago all producing sublime individual performances.
The resounding victory moves the west country outfit up to eighth in the Premiership table, with a huge clash back at Ashton Gate against Harlequins awaiting Pat Lam’s side next Sunday.
Bristol Bears: 15. Charles Piutau, 14. Siva Naulago, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. James Williams, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall (c); 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. Chris Vui, 5. Joe Batley, 6. Sam Jeffries, 7. Fitz Harding, 8. Magnus Bradbury
Replacements: 16. Bryan Byrne, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. George Kloska, 19. Steven Luatua, 20. Jake Heenan, 21. Andy Uren, 22. Sam Bedlow, 23. Ioan Lloyd.
Northampton Saints: 15 George Hendy, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Fraser Dingwall (c), 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tom Collins, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Callum Braley; 1 Ethan Waller, 2 Sam Matavesi, 3 Alfie Petch, 4 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 5 Alex Moon, 6 Alex Coles, 7 Angus Scott-Young, 8 Sam Graham
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Karl Wilkins, 20 Aaron Hinkley, 21 Jake Garside, 22 James Grayson, 23 Tom Litchfield.
Referee: Ian Tempest (110th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Adam Leal and Phil Watters.
TMO: David Rose.
Citing Officer: Ally Hogg
Attendance: 16.686
