Gloucester 34 - 49 Bristol: Bears' fierce attack too powerful as Fitz Harding bolsters England hopes

Bristol started off the stronger of the two sides, opening the scoring in the 5th minute through some well worked breakaway play. Ben Elizalde broke away and set up Sam Worsley with a beautiful offload off the floor which the fly off took gracefully and dived over the line. Worsley converted his try with his first attempt off the tee.

Gloucester got themselves on the scoresheet through a Ross Byrne penalty in the 11th minute. The Irishman scored the Cherry and Whites first points after some poor breakdown discipline by The Bears.

Gloucester got their first try of the game through some sheer forward brilliance. Phase after phase of forward carrying was finally rewarded through Matias Alemanno in the 17th minute. The Argentine dove through the Bristol defensive line to put The Cherry and White’s in front. Byrne converted to give the hosts a three point lead.

The lead was short lived however as a thundering Bristol maul was too much for the defending Gloucester pack and Gabriel Oghre reaped the rewards for the visitors second try of the match in the 25th minute. Worsley was successful once more off the tee.

Two tries turned into three for the visitors as only three minutes later captain Fitz Harding found a hole in the Gloucester back line and steamed through untouched. He had that much space the flanker even gave the Kingsholm crowd a cheeky celebration before he crossed the line. Worsley converted once more maintaining his 100% record off the tee so far.

Gloucester got one back in the 35th minute after Max Llewellyn was caught just short of the line after a quick lineout and Seb Blake reacted first by picking off the back of the ruck and dived over. Byrne missed the conversion.

The hosts third came just before half as replacement Josiah Edwards-Giraud dove over in the corner after some gorgeous hands play across the line worked the blindside. Byrne missed the kick once more.

It was Bristol that struck first in the second half through another thundering maul in the 53rd minute. Oghre was on the end of it once more in what was turning out to be a sensational game for the hooker. Worsley converted once more increasing the Bristol lead to eight.

Gloucester got one back through super signing Will Joseph. The outside centre threw a leaping ball to Edwards-Giraud and then was the only option for the offload in the 60th minute to convert his third try in as many games. Byrne converted to reduce the deficit to one.

Sloppy defending was costing Gloucester as a breakdown penalty gave the Bears excellent field position and Viliame Mata ran through untouched. Worsley converted once more to continue his magnificent day from the tee.

The hosts answered back superbly, more forward dominance from Gloucester set them up with superb field position and a wonderful switch by Josh Batham gave James Venter an easy dive over the line. Byrne converted reducing the deficit back to one point with 10 minutes left.

Bristol didn’t take their foot off the gas however and a darting run by Mata set up Kalaveti Ravouvou and some awful Gloucester tackling gave the Fijian the walk in score. Ravouvou got a second shortly after in the 77th minute with an acrobatic finish. Worsley converted both.

Attendance : 14,174

Tries: 5 ( Alemanno 17’, Blake 35’, Edwards-Giraud 38’, Joseph 60’, Venter 69’, )

Conversions: 3 (Byrne 18’ 60’ 69’)

Penalties: 1 (Byrne 11’)

Yellow cards: 0

Red cards: 0

15. Charlie Atkinson 14. Ben Loader 13. Will Joseph 12. Max Llewellyn 11. Ollie Thorley 10. Ross Byrne 9. Caolan Englefield 1. Ciaran Knight 2. Seb Blake 3. Afo Fasogbon 4. Freddie Thomas 5. Matias Alemanno 6. Josh Basham 7. James Venter (captain) 8. Hugh Bokenham

Replacements: 16. Jack Innard 17. Archie McArthur 18. Kirill Gotovtsev 19. Cam Jordan 20. Jack Mann 21. Harry Taylor 22. Mikey Austin 23. Josiah Edwards-Giraud

Tries: 7 ( Worsley 5’, Oghre 25’ 54’, Harding 28’, Mata 63’, Ravouvou 72’ 77’)

Conversions: 7 ( Worsley 6’ 26’ 28’ 54’ 63’ 72’ 78’)

Penalties: 0

Yellow cards: 0

Red cards: 0

15. Ben Elizalde 14. Max Pepper 13. Matias Moroni 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg 11. Kalaveti Ravouvou 10. Sam Worsley 9. Kieran Marmion 1. Jake Woolmore 2. Gabriel Oghre 3. George Kloska 4. Pedro Rubiolo 5. Joe Batley 6. Steven Luatua 7. Fitz Harding (captain) 8. Viliame Mata

Replacements: 16. Harry Thacker 17. Sam Grahamslaw 18. Lovejoy Chawatama 19. James Dun 20. Joe Owen 21. Ben Grondona 22. Oscar Lennon 23. Toby Fricker

The tighthead prop has been in and around the England set up for a while now but has still been yet to secure his first test cap. At just 21 years of age, he has plenty of rugby ahead of him and is sure to be a star for the future, although he is already seen as one at Kingsholm. With the likes of Will Stuart ahead of him it will be no easy feat, especially with Gloucester’s horror start to the Gallagher PREM season, but he’s young, hungry and insanely talented. It is hard to see him being left out of the Autumn international squad.

Llewellyn joined Gloucester from Cardiff in 2023 and has 5 caps for Wales under his belt already. He spent the tail end of last season and the start of this season out injured but with his first appearance back tonight it did not look like he’d been away at all. Quick, dangerous and solid in defence he slotted back into his role at inside centre superbly. With Seb Atkinson out injured we will have to wait even longer for the electric pairing of Atkinson and Llewellyn to be back firing. He is surely on Steve Tandy’s radar for a starting spot somewhere along the Welsh back line and his chemistry with Tomos Williams will only help his case.

Oghre has just the one test cap for England which feels harsh as the Bristol hooker is a class act. Before today his lineout efficiency was 100% and he got himself on the scoresheet twice. He tackled well, carried well and was a coaches dream with his effort around the field. It’s a testament to the depth England have at the spot that sees Oghre with only the one cap too his name. He deserves more than the one cap and I see him battling it out in the England camp this Autumn for more.

Thomas is a bright young talent for Gloucester but has seemingly underperformed for Wales thus far. There have been a few teething issues in his step up to test rugby but he is absolutely phenomenal at Kingsholm and the Gloucester faithful love the local kid. He is only 23 and has lots of room to grow and he gets better year after year. He has a bright future ahead of him for Wales and I am sure Steve Tandy will be keen to elevate his growth further with more test caps under his belt.

Harding hasn’t got a senior cap for England yet and that is due to the sheer number of world class back rows England have to offer. With multiple games in short succession there will be lots of time for Steve Borthwick to try new combinations in the back row and this could be Harding’s chance to finally make that England debut. He’s started the season in fine form and it looks like now, more than ever, he might take that next step up.

Bristol's dominant attack - A seven try performance from Bristol saw them dismantle Gloucester who just could not keep up with The Bears’ attacking prowess. Every time Gloucester got close, Bristol just pulled away and showed their superiority and strength. Even with their severe injury list they are still strong and can not be written off in any fixture, a true testament to their depth. Oghre and Ravouvou were both superb securing braces and being key parts in other tries.

Woeful Gloucester - Everyone thought Gloucester would take a step back this season with them losing 19 first team players, but not many thought it would be this bad. Three points in their first four games, with back to back losses at home, a feat that didn’t happen at all in the league last season. They’re yet to win and are looking in a dire state for the season, they have an extreme injury list but the performances are just not up to standard.

Bristol proving the doubters wrong – Many thought that Bristol would capitulate and performances would drop due to the sheer amount of injuries they have but that was not the case tonight. Even with a plethora of starters out injured The Bears still put 49 points on their local rivals. Gloucester were subpar but that does not take away from the sheer excellence and flair in the Bristol attack, something that would please Director of Rugby Pat Lam.

Gloucester’s injury crisis – Before the match Gloucester had 14 players out injured, with two hamstrings injury, an ankle and a concussion that total is now nearing 20 players out.

In what is evidently the worst case scenario for Director of Rugby George Skivington, a handful more starters are now ruled out for the foreseeable future: "I haven’t got an answer, we have looked hard at everything but I don’t know. We have too look at ourselves here because it’s ridiculous. We’re in dire straits for numbers”.

With a squad torn down too its bare bones and an away trip to inform Exeter next week it is not looking promising ahead of Gloucester’s trip to Devon next week. In Skivington’s words; "with the injuries, it’s ridiculous we will keep digging and we will have to look and take some accountability somewhere.”

Does Gloucester’s form hinder the players chances at internationals? – With a sour run it is natural to see some players fall out of favour with the international coaches. Some of the young Gloucester lads will be looking for a break through into international rugby but that might be a step too far at the moment;

“I don’t think Afo will be in the mix, he has fallen out the mix anyway, he’s playing well but he knows what he’s got to work on. Seb and Arthur would have definitely been in the mix but obviously they’re not available but they’d be the two lads in with a shout. We may have a few boys in with England A”.

The Welsh tandem at Gloucester on the other hand are mostly fit and in fine form and Skivington believes new Wales boss Steve Tandy will choosing some of The Cherry and Whites’s for his side.

"I think they’ll be a good number of Welsh boys, I think Freddie Thomas, Tomos Williams and Max Llewellyn will be there.”