Bears punished for not taking chances – Lam
BRISTOL Bears will need to win at old foes Harlequins this weekend and hope that other results go their way in order to reach the Gallagher Premiership play-offs after Saracens booked their top-four spot with a 41-20 triumph over Pat Lam’s men.
Their victory lifts Saracens up to second in the table before a final-day game at home to fourth-placed Sale.
Meanwhile, Bristol’s hopes rest on beating Quins next week with a bonus point and hoping both Exeter and Sale lose.
Saracens have the motivation to beat Sale in order to claim a home semi-final in the play-offs, but Exeter losing at Leicester is more tricky to envisage for the Bears.
At Ashton Gate for the final time in the 2023/24 campaign, Bristol failed to make the most of a crucial sevenminute period in the second half when Saracens were down to 13 men after yellow cards for Maro Itoje and Ben Earl, as the visitors survived relatively cheaply on the scoreboard to run out convincing winners.
Itoje scored two of their tries, while Romiti Segun and Juan-Martin Gonzalez were also on the scoresheet to claim a bonus point win, with player of the match Elliot Daly converting two and also kicking four penalties. Owen Farrell added another penalty and a conversion.
Joe Batley and Harry Thacker scored Bristol’s tries, with AJ MacGinty kicking two penalties and a conversion. James Williams also added a conversion.
Bristol director of rugby Lam reflected: “We started well, but then our execution wasn’t very good as we didn’t take a number of opportunities. We encouraged the players at halftime not to go into their shell and we needed to score when he had five to seven minutes of pressure early in the second half, but we didn’t capitalise.
“They slowed the game down in the sin-binning period and there were a couple of tough calls from the referee which went against us.
“We wanted to be ahead as it’s always difficult against Saracens when you fall behind. We’ve still got one to play and it’s always a decent game against Quins, so we’ll just have to see what develops.”
Sarries boss Mark McCall praised his side for their performance, and also hailed Daly for stepping up on goal-kicking duty.
He said: “We didn’t start the game very well and I’m really proud of the way we fought back to wrestle the momentum away from Bristol.
“We handled the 13-man period exceptionally by making a lot of smart decisions during the period.
“They are a real handful in attack and that defensive performance was as good as any I can remember.
“Owen’s (Farrell) groin tightened up so Elliot (Daly) took over and away he went. It’s remarkable really as he never practises his goal-kicking.” Bristol: Malins; Naulago, Janse Van Rensburg, Williams, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Randall; Genge, Oghre, Sinckler, Dun, Batley, Luatua, Harding, Bradbury. Replacements: Heward for Naulago (59), Vakatawa for MacGinty (48), Marmion for Randall (59), Thacker for Oghre (52), Lahiff for Sinckler (63), Caulfield for Dun (57). Not Used: Woolmore, Heenan. Scorers – Tries: Batley, Thacker. Cons: MacGinty, Williams. Pens: MacGinty 2.
Sin Bin: Naulago (14).
Saracens: Daly; Segun, Cinti Luna, Tompkins, Parton; Farrell, van Zyl; M Vunipola, George, Riccioni, Itoje, Tizard, Gonzalez, Earl, Willis. Replacements: Goode for Segun (78), Davies for van Zyl (68), Mawi for M Vunipola (54), Dan for George (54), Hoskins for Riccioni (54), McFarland for Itoje (61), Isiekwe for Tizard (54), B Vunipola for Willis (71). Scorers – Tries: Itoje 2, Segun, Gonzalez. Cons: Farrell, Daly 2. Pens: Farrell, Daly 4.
Sin Bin: Itoje (51), Earl (52).
Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU).
Hartpury staged a remarkable fightback from 21 points down to beat hosts Ampthill 44-36 and leapfrog their opponents into sixth place in the Championship.
Alex Morgan’s try, converted by Harry Bazalgette, drew the Red & Blacks level at 7-7 midway through the first half, but Ampthill then raced into a 28-7 lead.
However, Jono Benz-Salomon grabbed a try on the stroke of half-time before Ethan Hunt and Robbie Smith did likewise early in the second period.
Hunt’s second drew the visitors level at 31-31 and, after Ampthill responded, Morgan’s second try and Bazalgette’s extras put Hartpury ahead for the first time at 38-36 with seven minutes to go.
And two Bazalgette penalties in the final minutes sealed the deal.
RESULTS
Gallagher Premiership: Newcastle Falcons 17
Bath Rugby 28, Sale Sharks 31 Leicester Tigers 22, Northampton Saints 90 Gloucester Rugby 0, Bristol Bears 20 Saracens 41, Exeter Chiefs 58 Harlequins 26. Latest standings (one round to play): Northampton 60, Saracens 56, Bath 55, Sale 52, Exeter 50, Harlequins 50, Bristol 49, Leicester 40, Gloucester 27, Newcastle 5. Championship Rugby: Cornish Pirates 22 Coventry 12, Doncaster 20 Ealing Trailfinders 12, Ampthill 36 Hartpury 44, Caldy 31 Cambridge 28, London Scottish 31 Bedford Blues 34. Latest standings (one round to play, except Coventry who are finished): Ealing 77, Coventry 73, Pirates 70, Bedford 65, Doncaster 57, Hartpury 54, Ampthill 51, Nottingham 42, Scottish 34, Caldy 31, Cambridge 19.
Women’s Premiership: Saracens 54 Sale Sharks 21, Harlequins 47 Leicester Tigers 12, Trailfinders 10 Exeter Chiefs 40, Loughborough Lightning 26 GloucesterHartpury 61. Latest standings (played/points): Gloucester-Hartpury 14/69, Saracens 12/50, Exeter 13/47, Bristol 13/46, Loughborough 13/28, Trailfinders 12/23, Harlequins 12/23, Leicester 12/8, Sale 13/3.