Steve Diamond’s description of Bristol Bears as the ‘Harlem Globetrotters’ of rugby in midweek proved to be on point as he watched Pat Lam’s side run in 13 tries against his Newcastle Falcons outfit in a record 85-14 win on Sunday.
Bristol’s fifth successive win in the Premiership sees the club move into the play-off places into fourth with just three rounds of the regular season remaining after Harlequins were beaten 37-14 up at Sale Sharks to slip down to fifth. Playing in the late Spring sunshine the Bears, with the handbrake well and truly off, were in the mood to attack from everywhere from the very start and had an attacking bonus point wrapped up inside 15 minutes, becoming the second-quickest side in the history of the Premiership to do so.
It was total rugby from Bristol with Siva Naulago opening the scoring after 86 seconds and that set the tone for a one-way parade of Bears scorers with James Dun, Max Malins, Magnus Bradbury, James Williams, Ellis Genge and Benhard Janse van Rensburg all crossing before half time, with the scoreboard ticking at better than a point a minute to go in 47-7 up. Newcastle had just an interception try from Adam Radwan, who is due to switch to rugby sevens this summer ahead of the Olympics, to show for their long trip from the North East.
The second half was much the same story as, despite Lam bringing off the majority of his star players early on, the hosts ran in another six tries with Virimi Vakatawa recording a brace and Harry Randall, Kieran Marmion, Jake Heenan and Janse van Rensburg touching down in a complete humiliation of the winless bottom of the league visitors who got a second interception try, this time for Brett Connon.
Bristol’s Premiership run-in is not straightforward – Leicester away, Saracens at home and Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop – but they are a team high on confidence and could take some stopping in terms of clinching a top-four place.
Going into the game Bears director of rugby Pat Lam made just two injury-enforced changes to his starting XV, bringing in lock Josh Caulfield for Joe Batley and winger Siva Naulago for Noah Heward. Naulago in particular played a starring role in the first half on both sides of the ball as he finished a 95m score for the first try of the game.
A Newcastle side hit by injuries were chasing shadows all game as the Bears relentlessly broke the line. Following another long-range break, James Dun then powered his way over. Two England stars combined for the third, with Genge hitting Malins on a killer line to slice through the green-shirted defence and round the full-back. Falcons were repeatedly blown away by the intensity of game, but did conjure a score from nowhere when the elusive Radwan gathered and finished impressively on a 40-metre dash to the line, with Brett Connon converting. A quickfire bonus-point try was inevitable and it duly arrived after Randall took a quick penalty before the supporting Bradbury touched down.
Newcastle secured pockets of possession that briefly helped stem the tide, but Bristol’s dominance was overwhelming and try number five came when Williams capitalised on weak defence and MacGinty kicked his fourth conversion. The one-way traffic continued towards half-time as Genge helped himself to a solo score, then player of the match Van Rensburg touched down wide out, with MacGinty adding two more conversions.
Inevitably, there weas no let-up after the break, with Randall sprinting clear to score Bristol’s eighth try – Williams converted – then replacement scrum-half Marmion crossed, with Williams’ extras taking the home team past 60 points. Newcastle responded through an interception try for Connon from Malins' pass, which he also converted, but Heenan then added Bristol’s 10th touchdown before Van Rensburg and Vakatawa’s late brace completed the rout to hand Bristol their biggest-ever win in the Gallagher Premiership, surpassing last season's 62-8 thrashing of Northampton.
Bristol Bears: 15. Max Malins, 14. Siva Naulago, 13. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12. James Williams, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Gabriel Oghre, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. James Dun, 5. Josh Caulfield, 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Fitz Harding (c), 8. Magnus Bradbury.
Replacements: 16. Will Capon, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. Max Lahiff, 19. Joe Owen, 20. Jake Heenan, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. Virimi Vakatawa, 23. Rich Lane.
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Ben Redshaw, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Oli Spencer, 12 Tom Penny, 11 Iwan Stephens, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 Tim Cardall, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Philip van der Walt, 7 Sam Cross, 8 Callum Chick (captain).
Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Mark Dormer, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 John Kelly, 20 Freddie Lockwood, 21 Max Pepper, 22 Rory Jennings, 23 Matias Moroni.
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant Referees: Andrew Jackson and Simon Harding
TMO: Stuart Terheege
Attendance: 16,648
