Bristol Bears held off a Bath comeback, to record a 57-44 win over their West Country rivals in an astonishing match. Eight different players crossed the line for Bristol, as the 101 point thriller became the highest scoring game of the season. Bath fought back with tries from Coetzee and Du Toit, but Bristol’s Rich Lane sealed the win with a late try.
By Etienne Turpin
A see-sawing contest saw tries pouring in as neither of the sides looked to play it safe. Bath scored very early on in both halves, but Bristol would reply with a try of their own moments later. Both sides found themselves down to 13 men as yellow cards were dished out to the two teams.
Earlier in the week, Premiership Rugby and TNT Sports announced that they would introduce a player mic for Saturday’s derby between Bristol and Bath. Former All Black and current Samoa international, Steven Luatua was selected to be mic’d up in the game.
Bristol Bears captain Fitz Harding chose Luatua because of his “encyclopaedic knowledge” of the game. “From my perspective, as a young backrower sitting at home, I’d want to hear every single word that was coming out of Steven Luatua’s mouth, because he’s got an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game and anything that you pick up is valuable there.”
Bath got off to a dream start as Bath and Joe Cokanasiga only needed 2 minutes to score the first try of the game. It came from a delightful Crossfield kick from Finn Russell, aided by some poor tackling from Ibitoye and Lane.
The Bears responded in powerful fashion as they crashed over minutes later with a strong maul. Their 7th maul try of the season finished off by Will Capon. MacGinty was unsuccessful with the conversion as the score remained 5-5 after a blistering start.
Bristol showed their attacking intent from the get-go as they looked to play from their 22 right from the start and just after scoring, they kept their attacking intent up and moved up the field. Rich Lane found space with a neat step before offloading to Randall, who found Batley, who then crashed over for a wonder score.
Bath’s dream start turned into a nightmare when Jaco Coetzee was sin binned for a head clash with Magnus Bradbury. A late change in movement from Bradbury resulted in the tackle to be mitigated. With the extra man, Bristol looked to score a third with a nice set piece move, but the bounce of the ball favoured Orlando Bailey. Bath then managed to clear their lines, when Tom Dunn was caught high.
Bath reduced the lead to four points with a Russell penalty, after Bristol tried playing out from their own 22, yet Bristol soon crossed over again. After missing his tackle on Cokanasiga, Ibitoye showed his attacking prowess as he evaded multiple tackles with his quick feet. Bradbury almost went over but was then stopped metres out, and AJ Macginty was able to go under the posts for Bristol’s third try of the game.
Bath were temporarily down to 13 men when scrum-half Louis Schreuder was deemed to have deliberately knocked the ball on, as Bristol looked to run out from their 22m once again. With the extra men, Bristol knew that space would appear, and showed great patience in the Bath half, before eventually scoring their fourth try of the game. Noah Heward scored after Rich Lane collected a kick from MacGinty.
The game began to turn into a try-fest as Bath responded when Tom Dunn crashed over from a strong maul. The tries kept on coming as James Williams got Bristol’s fifth try of the game when he linked up with Janse Van Rensburg, and broke through the defence, following a line out. Bristol came close minutes earlier when Russell’s long pass was intercepted.
The half ended with Bristol leading 33-15, 48 points in a thrilling first half which saw seven tries.
With rumours of Callum Sheedy moving to Cardiff, AJ MacGinty showed his class in an all-round top performance in the first 40 minutes, as he set up tries and looked comfortable with the ball in hand. A move to Cardiff could potentially see a return to the Welsh national side for Sheedy, whose last cap came in Wales’s defeat to Italy in 2022.
It took Bath only 120 seconds to score at the start of the first half but flew off the blocks even quicker in the second. It took Tom De Glanville just 40 seconds to score after the re-start. A lovely move from deep inside their half, began with Russell’s bullet pass to Cokanasiga allowed Bath to break free. He gave it back to Russell, who popped it to De Glanville for the simple task of finishing the move.
But just like the first half, Bristol only needed a couple of minutes to reply. Bath, who only had the one training session after their loss to Toulouse, made unnecessary mistakes as they looked to replicate Bristol’s attacking intent, but Russell dropped the ball in his 22. They remained calm with the ball and Fitz Harding crashed over.
Bath thought they had scored their fourth try of the game, but Steven Luatua made a big try saving tackle. There was a TMO intervention to see whether he was onside, but the referee went back to the penalty advantage.
But Bath’s sustained pressure resulted in their bonus point try as Jaco Coetzee who came close at the end of the first half managed to dot the ball down. Questions were asked on whether or not Coetzee had grounded the ball, but Ian tempest made it clear that the ball was grounded. The 10th try in a crazy game. A try every five minutes.
And astonishingly, Bristol took less than two minutes to reply. Max Lahiff made a nice break and Ibitoye got past multiple tackles again. Couple of carries later, and Magnus Bradbury scored Bristol’s seventh try.
Bath had chances to score their fifth try but were denied by great Bristol defence who originally held up Coetzee. Bath were playing with an advantage however, and had another opportunity to score but were held up once again, allowing the Bears to clear their lines. But poor discipline from Bristol eventually resulted in a yellow card to Luatua and with the extra man, Bath made Bristol pay as Du Toit used his power to crash over under the posts. The simple conversion meant that Bath were only 13 points behind.
Bath’s crazy comeback got even better when Du Toit almost scored straight once again but was held up. However, Heward was offside as he stopped Du Toit and so, a penalty try was awarded and just like Bath in the first half, Bristol were down to 13.
And with the extra men, Bath carried on playing from deep inside their half but were bundled into touch thanks to great Bristol defence. Bristol had been awarded a penalty and had a chance to hit the half century, but MacGinty’s effort drifted wide. Russell tried to keep the tempo up with a quick 22 metre drop out, but his quick kick went dead, and Bristol were given a scrum on the Bath 22 which resulted in a Bristol penalty. This time, from in front of the posts, MacGinty added the three points to give Bristol a bit of daylight.
But Bath had a chance to narrow the lead after Matt Gallagher showed quick feet to break away before being hit late. Russell’s attempt was successful and with three minutes to play, Bristol Bears were still not safe despite scoring 50 points.
The win, however, was sealed when Rich Lane gathered Russell’s risky cross field kick and had a simple run in as the game officially hit over 100 points. There was time for a restart, but Bristol got the ball back and smashed the ball out as they recorded an incredible 57-44 victory of their rivals Bath.
A crazy game which saw 14 tries scored which allowed Bristol to move closer to Saracens who currently sit in seventh spot.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, POTM Fitz Harding was ecstatic after his first Bristol vs Bath home derby. “It was really special; it is actually my first home derby. It’s hard to put into words what it means, we’re so grateful for this, we haven’t been where we wanted to be but these lads (Bristol fans who sold out Ashton Gate) have stuck with us every single week.”
The game was played at a full house this Saturday afternoon for an incredible derby which saw multiple tries and a high scoring contest. The game saw Bristol end their run of two successive defeats in the Investec Champions Cup as they now have two months before their next game against Northampton Saints. On the other hand, Bath’s defeat means that they failed to capitalise on Harlequins defeat to Leicester on Friday night and remain third with Exeter playing Saracens later on.
Bristol: 57
TRIES: 8 (Capon 6’, Batley 9’, MacGinty 17’, Heward 22’, Williams 32’, Harding 43’, Bradbury 51’, Lane 79’)
CONVERSIONS: 6 (MacGinty 10’, 17’, 23’, 33’, 44’, 51’, Janse Van Rensburg 80’)
PENALTIES: 1 (MacGinty 73’)
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Luatua 62’, Heward 67’)
RED CARDS: 0
15. Rich Lane, 14. Noah Heward, 13. Benhard Janse Van Rensburg, 12. James Williams, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall, 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Will Capon, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. James Dun, 5. Joe Batley, 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Fitz Harding, 8. Magnus Bradbury.
16. Fred Davies, 17. Sam Grahamslaw, 18. Max Lahiff, 19. Josh Caulfield, 20. Jake Heenan, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. Virimi Vakatawa, 23. Siva Naulago
Bath: 41
TRIES: 6 (Cokanasiga 2’, Dunn 27’, De Glanville 41’, Coetzee 49’, Du Toit 63’, Penalty Try 67’)
CONVERSIONS: 2 (Russell 28’, 49’, 64’)
PENALTIES: 2 (Rusell 15’, 77)
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Coetzee 12’, Schreuder 19’)
RED CARDS: 0
15. Tom De Glanville, 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Cameron Redpath, 12. Will Butt, 11, Matt Gallagher, 10. Finn Russell, 9. Louis Schreuder, 1. Juan Schoeman, 2. Tom Dunn, 3. Thomas Du Toit, 4. Elliott Stooke, 5. Quinn Roux, 6. GJ Van Velze, 7. Miles Reid, 8. Jaco Coetzee.
16. Niall Annett, 17. Arthur Cordwell, 18. Archie Griffin, 19. Josh McNally, 20. Josh Bayliss, 21. Tom Carr-Smith, 22. Orlando Bailey, 23. Chris Cloete.
Five Talking Points
- Highest scoring game of the season!
In total, 101 points were scored today, as Bristol and Bath tallied up 14 tries in an end-to-end affair. A try scored almost every five minutes, this is a game to remember for the packed-out Ashton Gate.
2. Mic’d up, Luatua offers brilliant insight for viewers.
This was the first time that a player was mic’d up in a Premiership match. Fox Sports in Australia had tried this before with the likes of Quade Cooper and Karmichael Hunt given player mics.
3. Bristol catching up with teams above them.
With back-to-back Premiership wins, Bristol find themselves just five points behind fourth placed Exeter. The Bears had struggled early on in the season, but these two wins put them back in the mix for a playoff spot.
4. Fitz Harding – captain performance!
The Bristol captain put in a huge shift to help his side defeat Bath today. The forward made a great try saving tackle on Coetzee midway through the second half, and got a try for himself too, as he was awarded player of the match.
5. AJ MacGinty comes out on top in the battle of the 10s.
AJ MacGinty’s controlled performance at 10 today helped Bristol as they claimed their best win of the season. MacGinty was involved in multiple plays as Bristol showed no fears of attacking from deep. Bath and Russell tried to replicate this on a few occasions but the one training session all week proved to affect them as often found themselves making mistakes in their own half.