Bristol Bears 20-36 Sale Sharks recap: Reaction as George Ford's boot and Gus Warr try seals win

Pat Lam on whether he has any complaints over the Genge yellow

No, no, no, that's what it is. They make the call and that's what they said (head-to-head contact).

Sale confirm their play-off place

And here are the joint Players of the Match.

Pat Lam on AJ MacGinty

I though AJ had a great game. he was stressing at half-time about everyone having to do their jobs well, protect the guys at the back there when they put their kicks up, chase hard and put pressure on them. We did that at times.

Pat Lam on the penalty count

When you've got a kicker like George Ford who can kick from deep, in these conditions three points is like five points and we're just chasing the game but you've got to try and keep going.

Pat Lam's reaction

Whenever we play Sale it comes down to the physical battle and 100 per cent they won that.

We spoke about it at half-time, we just had to drop our height. Every contact was hard. You'd prefer to play them in a dry game but when it comes to this (the weather) it was always going to be difficult.

We tried to stay in the hunt but we made it difficult for ourselves; we'd given 12 points away and they haven't even gotten into our 22 yet, and that's George Ford for you.

We got pinned in a couple of scrums. The fact they got 36 points but didn't even get four tries shows the boot of George.

Obviously there's a missed tackle here, and a missed tackle there, so all in all - very disappointed.

Full-time! Bears 20-36 Sale Sharks

Any lingering play-off hopes the Bears had now look to be over, albeit with this weekend's fixtures still to come.

In truth, outside of the early exchanges in either half they were always paying catch up and were at the mercy of Sale's power game with the Curry brothers brutally effective at the breakdown.

The Genge yellow card, on another night of individual mistakes in the team, put them on the back foot again and probably removed any hope of a comeback and after that it was all Sale on another disappointing night at Ashton Gate.

Lloyd gets them up to halfway

Some razzle dazzle feet from the replacement as he breaks down the right but it's only to halfway and Sharks are well in control as the final whistle approaches.

This is heading to an inevitable conclusion

Despite that Ibitoye try, Bears can't get pout of their 22 and Sale are killing time and fancy another score.

The Curry brothers get a joint man of the match

Go figure. But fair play, they've been excellent tonight.

Gus Warr's try

Try! Bears 20-36 Sale (Ibitoye)

It's surely too late for a comeback but at least Ibitoye has awoken the crowd as he spring onto a long pass, takes it at real pace and then speeds over the line.

MacGinty adds the extras.

Conversion! Bears 13-36 Sale (Ford)

He's been outstanding from the tee all night and that further extends Sale's lead as they head for a bonus point win.

Try! Bears 13-34 Sale (Warr)

And that is that as the scrum half looks to his right, pivots onto his left and then goes blind to leave the Bears defence for dead. Game over.

Knock on Jenkins

The Bears sniffed half a break from inside the own 22 but Sale's tackling all night has been absolutely brutal and another big hit forces a turnover as Jenkins spills the ball forward, and they have a scrum in a promising position.

Dan Thomas and Ioan Lloyd are on

Steven Luatua and Siva Naulago leave the field.

MacGinty to the rescue

The Bears No10 has to dart across to cut out Roebuck's kick down the line into space. As he clears it catches a Sale hand and Bears have the lineout just outside their own 22.

O'Flaherty meanders through

Bears are (wisely) trying to keep the ball as far away from their half as possible and enjoy a good phase of possession but a big kick into O'Flaherty sees the Sale winger gather, step inside and then make his way up to halfway.

Moments later there's an Ibitoye knock on just outside his 22 and the Sharks have promising field position again.

Break in play

A huge boot downfield alleviates the pressure for the Bears and two Sale players are now having some medical attention.

MacGinty holds Roebuck up

It was a deep crossfield kick and Roebuck gathered with room to motor to the line but MacGinty scrambled across to stop him.

Sale have their tails up

Wave upon wave of Sale attack here and the Bears will do well not to concede.

Genge sent to the bin

Yikes, from bad to worse for the Bears with Genge off the field and up against it on the scoreboard.

The next 10 minutes could well decide the game.

Ellis Genge is not happy

The referee is having a look but there's suspicion of some foul play by the Bears prop as he made a tackle. Seems a head on head collision.

Penalty! Bears 13-29 Sale (Ford)

Just as they got back into this game, it's gotten away from them again as Bears are penalised at the scrum and Ford slots another penalty. More than a two-score game now.

Dallaglio not happy with Williams

The BT Sport analyst is sat just behind us in the press box and he's highlighting James Williams' poor body position in trying to stop Ross which directly led to that second Sale try.

Try! Bears 13-26 Sale (Du Preez)

Dear oh dear, somehow the Sale No8 Jono Ross is allowed to gallop into the 22, the Bears defence is stretched and on the next phase it's a simple pass into Du Preez who scores from about 5m out. Ford converts and the visitors have a healthy lead again.

Meanwhile, Kyle Sinckler has replaced Max Lahiff.

Randall cleans up

Warr planted a kick in behind the Bears backline and it bounced kindly for the hosts, remaining in the try area but Randall scampered back to touch down.

An early exchange of kicks

O'Flaherty to Randall and back again. As the ball gets a little lost in midfield, Vui's large frame then dives across to cut out another big Sale boot but the Bears can't fully profit from his work.

Second half kicks off

George Ford gets us back underway with Bears now attacking the South Stand.

The flames go up

A nice burst of warmth on a cold evening and the teams are back out on the field.

That Siva try

Here it is, in all its glory.