Northampton Saints were defeated for the first time in the Gallagher PREM this season, as Bristol Bears held off a late fight back from Phil Dowson’s side to leave Ashton Gate 41-26 victors.
There was just a point in it at the break in Round 2, with a George Hendy brace matched by two tries from the home team, and a penalty from Bears’ James Williams marking the only separator between the sides.
Saints found themselves on the wrong side of the TMO’s decision after the break and while Northampton did eventually earn themselves a try bonus point – through efforts from Alex Mitchell and Josh Kemeny – Bristol made them pay by crossing three more times before a penalty try ended any hopes of a Saints’ comeback.
FIRST HALF:
The sides jostled for territory in the early minutes at Ashton Gate before the home side eventually ended the deadlock with a driving maul in the game’s seventh minute.
Gabriel Oghre was the one over the line with the ball at the base but the lead didn’t last long when Saints hit straight back. An attacking scrum and crash ball from Fraser Dingwall gave them the platform, and it was a deft tip on from Tommy Freeman let Henry Pollock round the corner and put Hendy in on the left.
The two-point lead Fin Smith’s conversion afforded Saints was soon reversed by a penalty from Bristol fly-half Williams but Northampton thought they had hit straight back with a walk in for Ollie Sleightholme, only for the winger to lose control of Rory Hutchinson’s looping pass.
Smith almost put Freeman in just after with a grubber behind Bears’ line but the ball beat Saints’ fullback to the deadball line.
Then it was Bristol’s turn to believe they’d score on the half-hour mark – when a looping pass put Tom Jordan over on the right – only for the TMO to intervene to chalk the try off for a knock on in the build up.
Bristol did get their score before the break though, after a period of pressure in Saints’ 22 eventually gave them the chance to send Louis Rees-Zammit over on the right – with Williams’ conversion making it 15-7 in their favour.
But Northampton had the final word on the half. An attacking scrum gave Saints the platform, with swift hands once again shipping the ball wide left at pace and Hendy the man to dive over for his second of the match on the stroke of half-time.
SECOND HALF:
Smith’s conversion had made it 15-14 before the break but Bristol were quick to open up the gap on the restart, working their way close before Jordan righted his earlier denial by stretching over from close range.
Northampton thought they’d got their third try just after when Pollock broke free to put Alex Coles over under the posts but the TMO intervened to wipe that effort from the card for a Saints obstruction in the build up.
And Bears made them pay for the error twofold, pushing their way up to the other end of the field for Harry Randall first to snipe over and then creating space for Rees-Zammit to sprint over the whitewash on the right for the second.
Invigorated by the entrance of the bench, two tries in four minutes put Saints firmly back into the match. First, fast hands saw Northampton out of their own 22 before Hendy broke through Bears’ line; from there the winger raced forwards before getting the ball to Mitchell inside him.
The scrum-half darted in under the posts and Smith converted to make it 34-21 and Saints remained on the attack.
More incredible handling saw Northampton come darting forwards before the ball was shipped wide to Kemeny on the left. The back rower still had plenty to do but grounded to ball to score the bonus point for Saints.
But Northampton’s re-emergence into the match was ended there, with errors compounding and Ion Neculai seeing a yellow card for the building infringements. Bristol made the most of their extra man and soon found themselves back in Saints’ half, there Rees-Zammit chipped through to chase himself but was taken out by Freeman illegally.
The Saints winger was shown a yellow card with the last action of the match and Bears were awarded a penalty try as his actions were deemed to have stopped a certain try to see the final score settle at 41-26.
LINE-UPS:
Bristol: 15 Tom Jordan, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Harry Randall; 1 Jake Woolmore, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 3 George Kloska, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 5 Joe Batley, 6 Steven Luatua, 7 Ben Grondona, 8 Fitz Harding (c).
Replacements: 16 Tomas Gwilliam, 17 Lovejoy Chawatama, 18 Jimmy Halliwell, 19 George Taylor, 20 Joe Owen, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Max Pepper, 23 Luka Ivanishvili.
Saints: 15 Tommy Freeman, 14 Ollie Sleightholme, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Fraser Dingwall (c), 11 George Hendy, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Archie McParland; 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Cleopas Kundiona, 4 Alex Coles, 5 Ed Prowse, 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Josh Taylor, 8 Henry Pollock.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Callum Chick, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Anthony Belleau, 23 James Pater.