Bristol Bears might need to change their theme tune when they run out at Ashton Gate moving forward because Saturday's 25-10 defeat to Saracens was a long way from being 'The Greatest Show.'
Not only did the injury-depleted Bears lose for the fifth straight Premiership game to drop down to ninth in the Premiership table but the once-great entertainers of the league barely fired a shot in anger for most of the contest as any hope of fireworks on the pitch on bonfire night were extinguished by a first half downpour.
A pair of tries from the Bristol forwards, one from a dynamic maul to put Harry Thacker over and another for replacement Jonathan Benz Solomon saw the final score flatter the Bears who were no match for Saracens' efficiency for most of the match.
Max Malins, who of course will join Bristol next season, scored league leaders Saracens' only try, which Alex Goode converted before kicking six penalties to bag 20 points.
READ MORE: Bristol Bears 10-25 Saracens LIVE: Reaction as Pat Lam's side suffer home defeat
At the final whistle, Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam was left disappointed at referee Jake Makepeace's interpretations of the laws and lamenting the absence of his star men.
He said: "It’s important to remember the experience of the group we’ve got out at the moment. Suddenly you have Genge, Sinckler, Luatua, Vui, Radradra, all of these boys are missing at the moment, and it’s experience that you need when you play these neck and neck games, and it’s no coincidence that Malins does that moment of magic and Alex Goode does that, they’re the guys who have experience at this level. “
Lam is not wrong, his club's unavailable list is hideous. Add to the names he threw out, Charles Piutau, Harry Randall, Siva Naulago and Sam Jeffries and you have one hell of a side. But the harsh truth is that on this season's form, this was never a neck and neck game. Saracens, missing England stars Maro Itoje, Mako and Billy Vunipola and Owen Farrell amongst others, are lightyears ahead of Bristol at the moment and as soon as the teams were announced on Friday lunchtime there was only ever one winner.
That is not a comfortable position for Lam. Hence, perhaps, why the officials took a blasting post-match. He said: "We got absolutely killed there by the referees. I think the penalty count was 15-5. The boys were a little bit frustrated afterwards, he wouldn't let the boys talk to him at all and threatened them with more penalties if we do. So the boys came off frustrated."
He added: "The penalties killed us."
Now the Bears have two friendlies, against Cardiff Rugby and South Africa, plus a Premiership Rugby Cup game against Gloucester, to rediscover some form and get some of their missing stars back fit and on the pitch to provide the X-factor that is so clearly missing, albeit heading into the winter months when flamboyant, attacking rugby is all that harder to play.
Bristol had slightly better of the opening exchanges with both their new wings making an early impression. Debutant, Gabriel Ibitoye made a couple of lively runs while Deago Bailey pulled off an excellent tackle on Malins.
But neither side remotely threatened the try-line in a pedestrian and scoreless first 20 minutes with few points of note to interest an enthusiastic crowd.
A couple of cross-field kicks from Bears’ fly-half Callum Sheedy were at least inventive but they failed to produce any dividends.
Saracens had the first real opportunity for points after 24 minutes but they turned down a 20-metre kick straight in front of the posts in favour of more attacking options and it proved the wrong call as the home defence held firm to repel a couple of driving line-outs.
On his 340th appearance for the club, Saracens fly-half Goode tried something creative by chipping over the top but the ball bounced unfavourably as the action continued to take place between the 22’s.
The first score came after 33 minutes thanks to the improvisation of Malins, who received another Bristol kick before chipping ahead. The full-back was first to the ball to propel it forward again and collect before holding off the cover defence to score.
Goode converted and then added two penalties in quick succession to leave Saracens with a 13-0 interval lead.
After the restart, Goode kicked two more penalties to leave Bristol with a mountain to climb but the hosts at last showed something in attack when replacement Thacker finished off a driving line-out.
Sheedy missed the conversion before Goode was on target with another two penalties to seal victory.
Bristol had the final say when Ben-Solomon crashed over for a consolation try with two minutes left on the clock but it was too late to salvage the game.
Bristol Bears: 15. Luke Morahan (104 apps), 14. Deago Bailey (3 apps), 13. Joe Jenkins (1 app), 12. Sam Bedlow (54 apps), 11. Gabriel Ibitoye (debut), 10. Callum Sheedy (139 apps), 9. Will Porter (1 app); 1. Yann Thomas (94 apps), 2. Bryan Byrne (36 apps), 3. Jay Tyack (1 app), 4. Ed Holmes (91 apps), 5. Joe Batley (23 apps), 6. Magnus Bradbury (6 apps), 7. Jake Heenan (c) (75 apps), 8. Fitz Harding (35 apps).
Replacements: 16. Harry Thacker (81 apps), 17. Jake Woolmore (115 apps), 18. Jonathan Benz-Salomon (8 apps), 19. John Hawkins (41 apps), 20. Dan Thomas (114 apps), 21. Andy Uren (141 apps), 22. Ioan Lloyd (64 apps), 23. Jack Bates (29 apps).
Saracens: 15 Max Malins, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Alex Lozowski, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Alex Goode, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 1 Robin Hislop, 2 Theo Dan, 3 Marco Riccioni, 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 5 Hugh Tizard, 6 Andy Christie, 7 Ben Earl (c), 8 Jackson Wray
Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 James Flynn, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Andrew Kitchener, 20 Toby Knight, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Josh Hallett, 23 Tom Howe
Referee: Jack Makepeace (14th Premiership game)
Assistant Referees: Mike Hudson and Peter Allan
TMO: Adam Leal
Citing Officer: Greg Garner
