Bath Rugby ended their Ashton Gate hoodoo with a convincing 49-19 victory over Bristol Bears to pick up their first win in this year’s PREM Rugby Cup.
The defending champions scored seven tries to pick up their first win in a domestic competition away in Bristol for 17 years, with hooker Kepu Tuipulotu and winger Charlie Griffin both recording braces, and single scores for Billy Sela, Arthur Green and Will Butt.
Bristol touched down twice through hooker Tomas Gwilliam, both from driving mauls, and debutant Ellis Bevan snipped over, but the young home side were unable to upset the odds against their more battle-hardened visitors.
Reflecting on the display, Bath coach Ryan Davis said: “I thought it was a well-rounded performance considering the conditions. Coming to Ashton Gate, it’s always gonna be one of those environments that we have to turn up, but I thought physically we we got into Bristol, which was good. Our set piece operated and I thought our forwards in the carry were exceptional at times, and then when our defence started to really put pressure on them.
£I think it was a step in the right direction by just showing the consistency in our performance despite changes in the squad. Some boys haven’t played in a few months. Some haven’t played for Bath for five, six weeks, and others have come back from injury. But everyone knows what we’re all trying to achieve as a club [winning the PREM Rugby Cup again], and they’ve got to do their bit.”
Bristol took the lead early in the contest with their driving maul providing a chariot ride for hooker Gwilliam to touch down in the corner, with the handbags kicking off between the two sides as the forwards go to their feet. Former Bath academy fly-half Raff Weston, who signed for the Bears in the summer, pulled his wide conversion kick narrow of the sticks.
But Bath’s superior firepower in the pack began to tell as frontrow heavyweights Tuipulotu and Sela both powered over the whitewash with the hooker breaking off the back of a driving maul.
Bath’s second try was a thing of beauty as Tuipulotu sparked the move with a powerful burst near halfway before Will Butt opened his legs to eat up 35m. Keeping the ball alive, it was moved to tighthead Sela, who broke a tackle to finish the strike.
Bristol responded well, fighting their way back into the game, but the hosts squandered chances to add to their early score.
The first half was pockmarked by a series of concerning injuries for both sides, with backrow duo Kofi Cripps and Benjamin Grondona both limping off for the Bears, before Alfie Barbeary exited the Ashton Gate pitch with his arms around the shoulders of two medical staff, having just made a sensational interception and 35m break.
Just before half time, Bath added a third try from close range through big flanker Green.
The Blue, Black and White were celebrating their fourth try of the contest just 90 seconds after the interval with winger Griffin sneaking into the left corner, using his large frame to drive through an attempted tackle.
With the heavy rain dictating the style of the game, making it a game dominated by the forwards, the Bears pack once again punched above their weight to drive close to the tryline from a lineout to allow emergency injury signing Bevan to sell three Bath defenders with a dummy to open up space to dart over.
But having clawed a way back into the contest, a dropped ball from 18-year-old Victor Worsnip was scooped up by Griffin who showed an impressive turn of pace to run in untouched from 40m out.
A driving maul then delivered player of the match Tuipulotuo over the whitewash for Bath. In almost identical fashion, Bristol’s catch and drive routine delivered Gwilliam over the line for the hosts third of the day.
But Bath had the final say, with Butt stepping out of a tackle before crossing, and stubborn defence from the visitors ensured Bristol finished without a fourth try for at least a losing bonus point for their endevours.
Bristol Bears: 15. Mat Protheroe, 14. Josh Carrington, 13. Jack Bates, 12. Victor Worsnip, 11. Aidan Boshoff, 10. Raff Weston, 9. Sam Wolstenholme (c), 1. Sam Grahamslaw, 2. Tomas Gwilliam, 3. Jimmy Halliwell, 4. Paddy Pearce 5. Joe Owen, 6. Luka Ivanishvili, 7. Kofi Cripps, 8. Benjamin Grondona.
Replacements: 16. Gabriel Oghre, 17. Louie Trevett, 18. Lovejoy Chawatama, 19. Steele Barker, 20. Kenzie Jenkins, 21. Ellis Bevan, 22. Evan Morris, 23. Benjamin Elizalde.
Bath Rugby: 15 Jack Woods, 14 Tyler Offiah, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Will Butt, 11 Charlie Griffin, 10 Tom de Glanville, 9 Neil le Roux, 1 Scott Kirk, 2 Kepueli Tuipulotu, 3 Vilikesa Sela, 4 Will Jeanes, 5 Ewan Richards (c), 6 Arthur Green, 7 Ethan Staddon, 8 Alfie Barbeary
Replacements: 16 Jasper Spandler, 17 Mikey Summerfield, 18 Kieran Verden, 19 Harvey Cuckson, 20 George Timmins, 21 Ieuan Davies, 22 James Linegar, 23 Sam Winters
Referee: Harry Walbaum
Assistant referees: Matt Sharpe and Jonathan Healy
